Berk's Newest Dragon trainer
by Tojster1
Summary: I wake up and everything hurts, my arms, my legs, and my head and all life itself. I am not sure where I am or how I got here. All I feel is pain and then I remember what had happened. EARLIER CHAPTERS UNDER RE-EDITS.
1. All washed up

I wake up and everything hurts, my arms, my legs, my head, and all life itself. I am not sure where I am or how I got here. All I feel is pain and then I remember what had happened. There's a lot to cover. I'm sure where to begin. So, I will start at the beginning of it all. The very beginning.

But first I get a look at my surroundings.

I'm on another island it is rocky and covered with sand. My boat was tipped over and I was peering through the edges. I flip the boat over and get on my two feet. I collected my supplies. My sash bearing my tribes crest, my knife, my bow and quiver. Then reach for my utility built bearing my sword. I am a warrior, and regrettably, I'll be chief of the Hairy Heroes tribe.

I start walking off the beach toward a smoke cloud. That meant land, fire, people and most importantly food. I walked for what seemed like forever. I had set my sights on the first person I've seen in months and got ready to greet her. Then, in the fleeting edges of my vision, I saw that a dragon was walking with her, but, not just any dragon. A deadly nadder.

Out of fury, I draw my sword out of the sheath located on my belt on my hips, and then grapple my shield, strapping my quiver on and filling it with arrows, I collected my bow and put it on my back. I was ready for battle, and thirsty for revenge in those who did me wrong. I remembered an old friend of mine, he could help me take out the dragon with ease. I had brought him with me, so that I could have someone to talk to on my long voyage.

Knowing he was somewhere around the area, I called him to me, but I stayed quiet enough for the girl and the dragon not to hear my signal. He had walked over crouched by my side, quietly growling at the sight of the dragon that we were hiding from. I had flipped through the bags in his saddle and collected my gloves and put them on.

Then I had gripped my sword rose my sword and shield at chest height and charged out of the bush and toward the mysterious, murderous, unknown, deadly nadder while releasing my famous battle cry into the air. Revealing my presence to the shocked girl and dragon.

Three months earlier

I needed a ship. I needed to get supplies for my family. My father was sick, he had some disease I am not sure what it was called but it was slowly eating away at him. I might be just a boy, but I was a boy on a mission. I won't let anything get in my way. The only cure was with trader Johann and he left to go to another island for business, I needed to catch up with him and fast.

I had left the meeting hall and ran at full speed toward the food storage only stopping to undo the lock, when inside I quickly grabbed 3 loaves of bread, 5 empty canteens and hastily filled them up to the top with crisp clean water. I swiftly closed the door and secured the brass lock to the wooden handle bars, locking it once again.

Then I started to run again but this time toward the forest, I have tons friends but my best friend lived out where no one would ever dare step foot. He was one of my secrets nobody knows about, Not a single soul. Whenever I had a problem I would go to him and he would listen. Whenever I felt sad or angry he understood me and comforted me. The same was true in the opposing direction. In other words, We were compatible. We competed each other. We were one of the same. Although, in all the ways we were alike, we were different.

He could not speak english, I didn't live in the woods. I was well-known, I was the only one who knew about him. I didn't have wings, he did. I didn't have scales, he did. My eyes were brown and his were green. I couldn't breathe fire, he did. He could fly, I couldn't. I was human and he was dragon. I was Viking and he was night fury.

I was going to take him with me and I had multiple reasons for doing so. Just like every decision there is to make. There were the pros and there are the cons, but in this particular situation, the good outweighed the bad. But why would I take a dragon with me, why would I even think about befriending and make daily visits to the sworn enemy of all vikings?

We have been enemies for centuries. The answer is simple the dragon had saved my life but at the cost of his own safety. During his act of bravery, the left side of his tail had been painfully amputated from his body, permanently rendering him without flight. I was six years old, when that dragon had saved my life. I will remember that night for the rest of my life. We never leave each other's side, we will always protect one another, we were friends for life, and forevermore.

Eight years ago

The dragons were attacking again, I lay on my bed wanting it all to end, the death of family and friends, the war, and the dragons, especially the dragons, I hated them with every fiber in my body. When I was little, I used to scared of them. They were huge so huge they could eat 100 vikings in one gulp and they had sharp claws that could destroy everything in its path. The wings could cause massive bursts of wind that could make even the strongest viking fly backwards. They could even breath fire, fire so hot it can melt metal.

Their scales are thick and could withstand almost any attack. Their teeth, their teeth were so sharp and deadly it could easily cut through armor with ease, and lastly their tail it was sharper than any sword that I have ever seen and trust me I've seen tons of swords. Out of all the dragons that exist, I was scared of the night fury the most. The night fury has many different ways to shoot fire, like in small but very power plasma blast.

The night fury is very sneaky it can attack then disappear like they were not even there then when you thought is was over, there is another plasma blast and more fire. I know so much about dragons because there is a book that has everything we know about dragons inside. I memorized it, I know everything about dragons, everything. I was thinking about all of this to keep myself from crying, then I would remember the armory.

I love the big and dangerous weapons that are kept in armory, I loved looking at them every morning on my way to breakfast. It kept me thinking that if the dragons attacked we would be ready. Then there was a large boom so large that it made the floor shake. I pulled the covers up to my shoulders and lightly bit my tongue to keep my teeth from chattering.

I was scared, no, it was more than just simply being scared. Terrified would be the better word. What if a dragon was attacking the house right now, no. A dragon never went this far into the village they only take cattle and leave. There weren't any food storages nearby they were all near the center of the village and this house was far from there. Well, not far enough to not hear the fights but far enough force the dragons not having to come back here. Maybe they came the opposite direction this time, or maybe from both sides. Now that I'm thinking about it, dragons aren't that smart, or are they?

Then there was another boom closer this time, very close. There was a crack above me, then another, then the ceiling started shaking and so did the walls. A dragon was ripping the ceiling off! I was terrified, I started to get up then the floor shook as I stood on my two feet. I stumbled and nearly fell. I righted myself and walked toward the door leading out of my room. I touched the doorknob and it burnt my hand. Burnt it. Fire! The house was attacked.

Out of panic I took my shirt off and tightly wrapped my hand in the cloth and opened the door. The familiar oak and cedar wood steps leading down to the lower level was now engulfed in flames and the lower floor was a ready destroyed and it continued to burn right in front of me. I heard the hiss and crackle as the flames slowly grew and devoured the door. That's it was all I thought, I was trapped.

On one side there was a fire that was so powerful it would engulf me and wouldn't leave a trace, and on the other: a dragon with its sharp teeth and tearing claws. Its powerful tail and deadly and destructive fire breathing abilities that could just as easily kill a small viking boy. Despite my delima, I smirked.

If I died my parents would avenge my death. I hoped they tortured the sick, demonic, evil, freak of nature that dared kill their only son. I was torn from my thoughts, the fire had started on the very floor I was standing on. The floor was burning! Then, the ceiling was ripped out of place. The dragon saw me. The smell of fire burned my nose and the heat of the fire was so hot I was sweating.

It was the middle of winter. The winter is cold very cold, and I was sweating profusely. I looked at my sweat drenched clothes then at the night sky it was a very starry night and the moon was huge. There was only one way I could describe it: breathtaking. It is a very peaceful way to die. I thought. I looked back at the dragon with fear and I got a good look at it to the stars and the moon lit up the dragon's features perfectly. Midnight black scales, slitted emerald green eyes, and sharp, pointy, pearly white teeth. The dragon was a night fury! The rarest and deadliest of them all. Possibly the last of its kind from what I heard.

It retracted its teeth and was reaching to pick me up when a burning piece of a wall had fallen and ripped part of its tail off as it tried to pull away. It uttered a terrible scream of pain as it's blood began to burn at the floorboards. It retracted its teeth. I felt a burning pain in my leg I looked behind me and the pant leg of my pajamas was burning. I patted the fire out but the fire had left nothing but my skin exposed and the tips of the pants so I ripped the rest off.

Then the dragon brushed off the wall off its back retracted its teeth once more showing its pink gums and picked me up with its mouth and jumped off the burning building. It flailed in the air, and I realized that it could not fly without it's tail. Thankfully, the dragon landed safely and its four legs, behind the house and set me down. I was safe, I was whole, I was unscathed. The dragon gave me one last longing look almost as if it knew me, before he smiled and fled into the woods. Out my sight. It's familiar grin, burying itself in my memory.

I heard my name being called so I ran toward the front of the destroyed house and ran into my dad's outstretched arms. He was crying and praying to the gods thanking them for keeping me safe. We hugged and we saw all dragons flying away from the island. All but one. I thought in my head. My dad who was also the tribe chief had asked me how I had survived, he said that he had seen a deadly nadder shoot at the house and set it on fire. The truth and realization had hit me like a hard punch in the gut.

I was saved by a dragon, but not just any dragon a night fury. I owe that dragon my life. I thought. My dad had repeated the question and I had to lie to protect him. After all I did owe him. So I had said that I had ran out of the house. None of the vikings had seen what had happened after the house was struck because they turned their to the fighting dragons. They accepted the lie but wasn't satisfied and started rebuilding the houses.

Six months later.

I had found where the dragon had fled off to that night. I looked for it the morning after the incident. Every day for six months I would attempt to talk to the dragon and give him chicken and fish. I had befriended it after a week and even gave him a name. Nightshadow. He seems to like the name because he would respond to the commands I gave him. For example I would ask him to sit and he would sit. I would ask him to shoot fire and he would shoot small plasma blast that would cause whatever came in contact with the plasma ball would be set aflame. I had learned the ball itself is a purplish blue color.

After a very long six months of sneaking off, training, studying, testing, and learning, Nightshadow and I have became not just friends, but an inseparable pair. People started to question me about what happen a few months ago and why I keep disappearing. They have no clue what happened. But I remember it as clear as glass, and I won't tell anyone how I eluded death from an event that surely would have killed me. If my tribe knew the truth, they would force me to tell me the location of my best friend, and savior. They will kill him. They will treat his body like some prize and sell his hollowed out corpse for gold. I vowed to myself that I will do whatever it takes, to not make that happen.

Six years Later.

I am now twelve years old, muscular, lean, and ready for anything. I've mastered all of the skills of becoming a warrior, blacksmith, carpenter, farmer, and fisherman. But most importantly, I've become one of the vikings. I have been sneaking off every day for six long years training, bonding and occasionally stealing materials to make things for Nightshadow. I have made nightshadow a removable synthetic tailfin that's as light as a feather and paper thin that can give him the ability of flight but it has to controlled by a foot pedal on the bottom, and a saddle.

The saddle itself is lightweight, but incredibly durable. It also has many bags and pouches for water, food, repair equipment, weapons, tools, and many other useful things for long flights around the island, and surrounding areas. The saddle is very comfortable, and is easy to adjust for longer, faster, and a more comfortable rides.

I would fly with Nightshadow during the night so that we cannot be seen. We practice spins, maneuvers, dives, battle tactics, agility, endurance and speed. We had learned everything about each other in just a few short years. I had learned that night furies can shoot balls of plasma that explode whenever something comes in contact with it. The plasma blast can vary in power and overall temperature.

I also learned that Nightshadow is extremely smart. He understands all simple and complex commands and hand signals that I give him. I know this because he carries them out correctly and precisely. But most of all, I've learned that dragons all speak the same language. I spent countless hours and an innumerable number of years piecing together the language, letter by letter, word by word. I eventually became fluent in a language that I didn't even know existed. I have given the language a proper name. Dragonese.

Nightshadow and I talk to each other for years with seemingly no end. We've shared everything with each other. We were truly inseparable. He is like a brother to me. Our bond is the strongest there is and continues to get stronger, the longer the days go by. We have even learned how to talk to each other with our minds! We could talk to each other from a distance of fifteen miles away! No one could hear our private conversations. No one, but us. I have shared all my memories, feelings, experiences with NightShadow.

It was just him and me, nobody could come between us. We are truly just one mind and two bodies. But not everything was as good as it seems. My father eaten some raw chicken, not to long ago, and he hasn't been feeling well lately. If he doesn't get any better soon, I will have healer Jackie look at him. Hopefully he will come out of this just fine.

Hopefully.


	2. The arrival, The Night Fury, and the dep

Chapter #2: The arrival, The Night Fury, and the departure

My father's health had not improved so I had told healer Jackie and she had visited him everyday for two years. Then one day she had told me when healer Johann arrives next week tell him of my father and ask him if he had any sun dried tulip petals and she would would know to do from there.

One week Later

The second I had seen his ship and ran for the deck, immediately asking him for a trade of dried tulip petals for fresh goat milk and wool. He had said that he wouldn't have dried tulip petals until the next month. After hearing this it felt like an anvil had been dropped on my chest. "My father will die if he doesn't get the pedals soon." Trader Johann's face soured upon the news. He then said something that lightened my spirits.

"I can't take you aboard, but If you can follow me to my next stop, where the petals are grown, I will give you half the pedals that they're willing to trade." I smiled and nodded in thanks and left.

Two minutes later, I was talking to Healer Jackie. She told me to immediately get to a boat, grab supplies, and leave. I sprinted out of house. Herald. I remembered. He was in charge of the inventory at the time. That meant, the weapons we had, the water supply, and the food storage were all under his jurisdiction. He handed me the key to the storage room without a second thought after I explained the situation.

The present

The girl was shocked, she was not expecting me to jump at her from the bushes. Nightshadow was still hidden in the bush, waiting patiently to join in if he was needed. She dodged out of my way, but I wasn't going for her. Just the nadder. It quickly realized this and fired spikes out its tail at me. I had easily dodged the attack and I had stopped running when I reached its blind spot. Right in front of its nose.

That's when I saw the girl charge at me from the corner of my eye. I dropped a small device I had make. It is a small pellet filled to the brim with gun powder. It hit the floor and I disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. I ran behind the girl while she wondered where I was, and taken her sword without her noticing and put it to her throat.

She was terrified and then she elbowed me in the jaw and I let go of her. "Stormfly!" The girl screamed. The dragon pelted spikes toward me and I dodged them again and screamed in anger.

"Shadow, fire!" Nightshadow shot two plasma blast toward the girl and the dragon. The plasma ball nearly hit them when it exploded and inch away the two bodies. The girl was flown through the air and I caught her bridal style and then set her down.

She was unconscious before she hit the ground. The nadder was thrown backward and it landed on its four legs, injured but still persistent to fight. I growled at the dragon in it's tongue. "Who are you and why shouldn't I kill you?" I held up my arm and crooked my elbow and Nightshadow charged another blast ready to fire once more.

I placed my sword against her throat. The dragon blinked in surprise, either it wasn't expecting to be taken down so easily, or me to know dragonese. Considering the circumstances, probably both. Having no other choice, the dragon decided to answer my question. "I am Stormfly and you are on an island your kind calls Berk."

"Why did you attack me and my rider?" She asked.

"Rider?"

She answered: "The humans had decided to stop fighting a force so great and mighty. I guess they had known they would have eventually lost. So they searched many islands and slain the Red Death, freeing us from her control..After that, the dragons united with the vikings that inhabit this island."

I growled in thanks and amusement. She again asked why I tried to killed her. I looked at Nightshadow and shook my head he stopped charging the ball by closing his mouth. He was still hidden in the bush. I was getting ready to tell her when the girl stirred, she began to wake up. I knelt by her side and I got a good look at her she had the most beautiful girl I've ever seen.

Stormfly had asked me if she could go near her because she was her dragon and that she would want to see her when she woke rather than me. I agreed. The girl had woken up a few minutes later and she was shocked to see me and stormfly next to each other. She had asked me why I tried to attack her and her dragon.

"It's a long story, but to be brief. Just know that I was looking for Trader Johann when my ship capsized and I washed up here." I replied. She nodded, although not fully understanding the whole story, it left her confused. I told that if she wanted the story she had to take me to her village. She eagerly agreed as she then went on to explain what Stormfly just told me about Berk and the dragons. I nodded and waited until she was finished speaking, to ask if I could set my weapons with the rest of my stuff.

She nodded. "What I am carrying is sacred to my tribe, could you wait here while I lock away my stuff?" I asked.

"Well, of course." She replied.

"Thanks." I said as I walked to where Shadow was hidden and joined him in the bushes.

"How long do I have to wait?" Shadow questioned using his mind as he started to get impatient.

"Until I deem it safe for you to go public. For now, go find something to eat." I said, feeling his hunger as if it were my own. He nodded flew off to a nearby forest, making sure the girl didn't see him. I walked out of the bush about 2 or 3 minutes later.

"Ready to go?" I asked. She nodded.

We walked for about two minutes before we finally arrived at her village, it was very cold and snowy, and I regretted not bringing anything warm to wear. My village had a very similar layout, but was different in more ways than one. I didn't know anybody here, my dad didn't serve as chief. Just then a thought struck my mind. Distracting me from my last statement. My dad, is he still alive? I have to back, but how long was I out on Berk?

All of a sudden many different people started running towards me. Not sure if they were friend or foe and I reached for my sword, but instead grabbed nothing but air. I had forgotten all about leaving my stuff with Nightshadow. The others stopped running when they saw me, they asked me who I was and I replied with my name.

"Taj. I am from the Hairy Heroes tribe and I will soon be the chief if I don't have the supplies I need to make the cure for my father." The girl I had traveled with had gasp in surprise along with who I assumed were her her friends.

"We will surely give you what you need." A frail and scrawny viking had replied. I said that I needed sun dried tulip petals. They shook their heads.

"We don't have tulips here sorry." replied the small viking. "My name is Hiccup by the way." The frail viking informed.

"I am Astrid." replied the girl I had traveled with.

"I am Shoutloud" replied a muscular kid.

"I'm Fishlegs" replied a rather chubby kid.

"I'm Ruffnut replied a skinny kid.

"And, I'm Tuffnut." Replied another skinny kid that look identical to the first.

"So let me straighten this out, you are twins?" I said pointing a Ruffnut Tuffnut.

"Yes." They both replied at the same time. "But wait, how did you know that we didn't tell you, Astrid did you tell him we were twins?" Ruffnut asked.

"No she didn't I answered you two look alike and you look about the same age." I replied as several different dragons appear behind them. Fear struck me almost instantly.

"Dragons! Get back!" I yelled to alert the others and instinctively pushed the other teens behind me. Then I remembered what Stormfly had said but still stood challenging the dragons. Hiccup then told me what Stormfly had said about the dragons and the vikings. I nodded and backed away apologizing.

"Is that a night fury?" I asked Hiccup, pointing at the dragon he nodded his head and said that his name was Toothless and that he was his dragon. I blinked in shock another night fury, Nightshadow had thought he was the last but I was looking at a second right there. He is the last of his kind Hiccup said in a sad tone. I smirked.

"Why are you smirking?" Hiccup asked.

"Shadow. Get here quick!" I yelled mentally. Shadow came running at full speed and tackled the first dragon he set his eyes on. A green zippleback had both of it's heads pinned to the ground, as an overprotective Night Fury charged a fireball, getting ready to blow them to pieces.

He looked up at me and realized I was fine and just wanted to get his attention. He then followed to apologize to the zippleback in dragonese. The zippleback nodded. Then Nightshadow had seen Toothless in the corner of his eye and blinked in shock. Toothless had made the same reaction.

"You're not as alone as we once thought." I told Nightshadow using my mind. He took one last long look at Toothless, and the said dragon did the same to Shadow.

Toothless had walked Hiccup's side, and Shadow walked to mine. The nadder walked to Astrid's side. The zippleback had walked in between the twins. A grockle had walked to Fishlegs' side and a Monsterous Nightmare had walked to Snoutloud's side.

"So these are your respective dragons?" I had asked the group they all replied with a yes. Each teen had told me the name, and breed of their dragons. I in return told them a bit about Shadow. They all looked shocked, even the dragons.

"How do you know so much about Night Fury?" They asked.

"Eight years of close up studying and learning did the trick." I answered. Hiccup requested that I meet his father. Stoick the Vast. Hiccup had said that his father was the Chief of the hairy hooligans, his tribe. I had accepted the offer and followed Hiccup to his house, to meet his father. I had told Night Shadow to stay behind, he nodded.

"So. You shipwrecked here on Berk, young lad?" I was talking to Stoick the Vast.

"Yes." I answered.

"Do you have an idea on how far you are from your island?" He asked.

"No." I answered uncomfortably. "May I see a map?" He nodded.

"I'll be right back." Stoick the Vast had left the main room and came back a minute later holding a large map and handed it to me. I quickly unfolded the map and set it on the table for everyone to see. Hiccup pointed to an island in the center. "This is where you are now." I nodded.

"If outcast island is here-" I said pointing to it then went on to find my island. I started to move my finger around the map looking for Dragonblood island and came up with nothing. I looked up at Hiccup, disappointed.

"My island is not listed on this map, do you have a bigger map perchance?" I asked.

"No, we do not. Sorry, this is the biggest map we have. The rest is uncharted." Stoick the Vast replied.

"Well, I know the basis of my location. Thank you for your help."

"Not a problem, sorry we don't have what you were looking for." Answered Stoick the Vast. I shook my head.

"You did all you could. That's all I can ask." He nodded and I exited the house. I whistled for Nightshadow, and he'd arrived a minute later. I climbed on the saddle and began to fly off when Stoick the Vast had stopped me.

"Is that your dragon, by any chance?" Stoick asked. I nodded. "Sure is. He's named Nightshadow." I replied.

"Hm. Good to know." Stoick commented. With that being the end of the conversation, I smiled and flew off towards DragonBlood island.


	3. Bad News and a very valuable gift

Chapter #3: Bad News and a very valuable gift

I had recounted the memories of what just happened while I were away to Nightshadow. He had done the same with me. We flew in the direction of our island, Dragonblood. We arrived hours later and what we have seen shocked the both of us. The berserker tribe was in the middle of invading of the island. Out of rage Shadow and I ran toward a group of soldiers and started beheading them. We hacked and slashed our way to Dagur the deranged, the leader of the Berserker tribe. Shadow had given me the memory when he had announced who he was then try to kill him.

Our anger for him had doubled. He was just a hatchling at the time but never forgotten the event. It only fueled the fire and have me the motive to kill him, brutally. He had seen us and sent his mightiest warriors to face us. We killed them with ease. Fourteen years old and I had made an archenemy. Shadow and I have searched our joined minds for what to do with Dagur, our top three choices were kill him or torture him then kill him, or torture him until the pain caused by our work does the job for us.

We chose kill him. It was faster and we just wanted to get it over with.

Meanwhile on Berk Hiccup's POV.

"He wasn't telling Nightshadow what he wanted him to do. Yet he knew what to do, don't you find that weird?" Astrid was talking to Hiccup in the dragon academy.

"Maybe he understood what Gobber was saying and followed what he said?" Hiccup responded.

"Well, that might be true but Toothless only listens to me and-. Astrid cut Hiccup off.

"That's you and Toothless, Nightshadow and Taj might be different." She has a point, Hiccup thought.

"OK. You have a point maybe Taj told him to listen to Gobber's instructions for the next stage." Astrid hit Hiccup in the arm,

"Told you." With that. Astrid left the academy and Hiccup followed behind her.

Dragonblood Island My POV.

He were going for the death blow and an inch away from our desired task when a hand grabbed my wrist from behind, stopping me from killing Dagur. Shadow stopped his attack and whipped his head around to face me. I looked behind me and had seen my mom holding my wrist. She had told me not to attack him because someone could easily take his place and then kill me as well. As well? I had asked she pointed at our house it was on fire again. Then at a house slightly bigger than the rest. The healer's hut. Dad.

Is he? He couldn't be... She sobbed in my shoulder, he was. He was dead and Dagur had killed him she had said, I had seen him do it. She let go of my wrist and started crying again. I put my arm around her. "Oh how touching." Dagur had said in a mocking tone. Out of anger I immediately grabbed Dagurs head and chin from behind and twisted my arms. It wouldn't kill him, I made sure of that. I broke his neck.

Then Dagur screamed and had his soldiers burn the village down. They did, they set each farm, animal, and building on fire, killing and destroying EVERYTHING. Then they collected everyone who lived on the island and killed them all including my mother. They set the dead bodies on fire. I was about to kill him when his soldiers grabbed him and put him on the boat.

The Berserker tribe armada sailed off in a matter of seconds. Away from the island and out of my sight. He killed my family, friends, destroyed my village beyond repair and nearly killed my best and now my only friend. No Nightshadow was more than that , he was my family. My only family. Dagur was definitely my arch enemy. He will die I will make sure of that.

Meanwhile on Berk.

"Yes Hiccup, what do you want?" Astrid demanded. Hiccup stuttered

"I-I wan-wanted to you know that my dad is holding a meeting on what to do with Mildred's house. He's betrayed us and is no longer at his house on Berk." He said.

"I'll be there when is it?" Astrid replied.

"Tomorrow at noon."

"Thanks Hiccup, and Oh, before I go what were you talking about because you were doing the thing with the flower?" Asked hiccup.

"Why were you watching me for so long?" She quipped.

"Good point I'm leaving now, uh bye Astrid." Hiccup quickly got up and left, before another word could be said.

My POV

I had spent hours digging graves, and building makeshift gravestones with the burned wood planks that made up the island. When, I had finished the last body and went to the remains of the huts and houses collecting everything still intact and/or useful and put the items in the saddlebags. It was about nine in the morning when we had woken up.

I didn't forget what had happened the night before. I woke up feeling several emotions at once. Sadness, and a deep loathing for the violent, and mentally insane, war loving, murderous, family killing monster that called himself Dagur.

Despite my pleas to go after Dagur and kill him. We were flying back to Berk and I was left to think about how everything I've done that led me up to this point in my life. How could the gods hate me so much. The gods have been protecting us humans for centuries why stop now? Maybe the goods favor the demon like Dagur who walk the Earth and decided to torture me just for their own amusement. Nightshadow interrupted my thoughts. "They wouldn't do that Taj, you know that as well as I do. Maybe the gods are testing you. Maybe they will grant you something in return." He stated.

"Maybe" I had answered. Maybe.

We had flown in silence for hours until we finally touched down on Berk. We had landed on the beach where we first arrived yesterday and explored the ship. I had found a large chest my parents had given me in case of emergencies. I opened it just out of curiosity and I looked inside. It had the most beautiful armor and weapons. The armor was very shiny and I had to squint to see what was underneath. I have only seen the material only once and it was EXTREMELY valuable. It was enchanted armor and weaponry. Only the most experienced of mages of the island could bound spells into weapons.

I had taken the armor and weaponry out of the chest and found a large can. On the lid of the can was the can opener and so I had open the can and found it was filled to the brim with a black substance that I immediately recognized as dragon blood. On the lid was a piece of paper stuck to it by beeswax. I took off the paper and found out that it was folded. I unfolded the paper and found writing. It was a note addressed to me. I recognized the handwriting it was my dads.

It read: Hello, Taj. I see that you have opened the crate and wonder why I packed you such rare gifts. You being my only son and descendant of our family, making you the rightful owner of the Quiett weaponry. All of the island's miners, mages and blacksmiths had worked hard for many years crafting each weapon into perfection. Each item is enchanted to never break and is made from a metal from the earth that is harder than iron and capable of retaining magic. The sword is has been enchanted with the ability to deflect lethal attacks. The bow has been enchanted to strike harder than an axe if the string is drawn completely back before you fire. The arrows will always return to the bow or quiver if you were to miss. The shield serves as the quiver for the arrows and it is enchanted so that if it's thrown, it will always hit it's mark. The shield is even fitted with a compass, and crossbow that can fire arrows and knives. Finally, the shield also serves as the scabbard and quiver for the other weapons. It's enchanted to be lightweight so, you don't have to worry about it being too heavy. The three weapons will only work for you and your descendants. The enchantments begin to work when you dip them in dragon blood. Hope you're responsible with those weapons and I wish you good luck and may the gods watch you.

Jackson the quick

I immediately folded the letter and stashed it into the safest compartment of the saddlebags before I dipped the weapons in the blood. When all three were immersed in the dark red substance. They dried and became an inky black metal when I touched them. Hundreds of runes on each of the weapons glowed brightly in response. From then on, I knew they would do just what my dad had said in the letter. I separately played with weapon until I figured out the workings of each. The face of the shield was the crest of my tribe. I put it on my armor and weapons and on Shadow's saddle.

In the in the inside of the shield there were two a small compartments where a sword, a bow and large quiver filled to the max with a set of arrows. I quickly found where the weapons could be locked in place. I played with the sword and shield for a bit, trying to get a feel for how I wanted to wield the lightweight pieces of weaponry before putting them into the shield and locking them in place with the leather straps, and closing the compartment. They fit perfectly. I messed with the shield and figured out how to work the uses of the shield. A grappling hook shot out of the face of the shield, with the press of a small lever on the handle.

When I pressed the button once more, the teeth to the hook had closed before retracting into the sword. The compartments opened and closed with corresponding buttons on the handle that were placed beside the lever. I didn't even need my experience as a smity to know that these weapons were a fine piece of work. A smile parted my lips, as I threw the shield as if it were a Frisbee. It glided through the air, cutting nearby trees as if they were thin layers of parchment.

I reached out my arm and the shield flew into my grasp. Ready to be used. The smile never left my face as I thought about my father, my mother, my past life, and the one I was starting on Berk. "Today is going to be a good day." I thought.

"Agreed." Shadow replied as we began to walk into Berk.


	4. The jump, the story, and Astrid's ugly s

Chapter #4: The jump, the story, and Astrid's ugly side

A few minutes later we arrived at Hiccup's house. He was sitting on the front step when we landed. He ran toward us as Toothless dove out Hiccup's bedroom window and landed by Hiccup's side. Hiccup had asked how my trip went, my face went blank. The joys from my dad's letter was long gone as reality forced itself onto me. It felt like a fist was shoved down my throat, I felt an ache in my chest where my heart was located. The memories of what happened had floated from the depths of my mind in small vivid visions and I felt a tear streaming down my cheek. Hiccup looked at me with a saddened expression painted on his face.

"It's okay you don't have to tell me. Everyone has secrets and I understand that." I felt my voice slowly return to me as I tried to form the words. I summed up the courage to at least explain to Hiccup my situation.

"The berserker tribe came to Dragonblood island. They were in the middle of a raid when I arrived. We killed soldiers. Hiccup. People. So many people. I felt angry, we teamed up and killed hundreds of soldiers before finally getting to...Dagur. The chief of the Berserker tribe." Hiccup nodded. "He destroyed the entire village and everyone there. Nothing was left. Everything and everyone I loved. Burned, killed, destroyed. Ruined." Someone sniffed, I turned to look.

All of the other teens were watching, listening, soaking it all in. They had shocked expressions on their faces and Astrid was crying. "That's terrible." She exclaimed between sobs. "I wanted to kill him so badly but my mom talked me out of it before she…"

"It's OK Taj you don't have to say anymore." Hiccup was trying to reassure me and was doing his best to calm me but his attempts failed.

"I should have killed him right then and there, Instead I broke his neck and let him escape." Hiccup and Astrid had surprised looks on their faces. "He invaded my village burning all the crops, meat and supplies. Whenever my tribe attempted to stop him, he killed them off." I started crying and ran inside Hiccup's house and slammed the door shut.

Stoick rushed to my side and he started to yell but stopped when he realized I was crying. "What's wrong Taj?" Stoick asked. I told him to ask Hiccup, then walked up the steps and into the guest room. Hiccup and Stoick had told me I could live with them until I had found my family. Nightshadow had walked in after me and I shut the door and the dragon leaned against it so no one could open it.

I had just wanted to go to sleep, I had been through alot and I was tired. Shadow walked over and curled his wings around me and the light was smothered by Shadow's wings, I have felt calm for the first in years. His body heat was comforting and relaxing, protecting. Just out of habit I started to think. Wondering if my village would ever find Shadow. Lying, and making things in secret and thinking about this make my eyes heavy so I slept. I woke hours later, I was still folded in Night Shadow's wings and Hiccup had entered the room.

Nightshadow had said that Hiccup constantly came in and out of the room wanting to wanting to know if you needed something. "And?" I had asked. Shadow said that he refused Hiccup's entry time and time again by growling quietly.

"I didn't want the boy to disturb your sleep." I had quietly thanked Shadow and turned my attention to Hiccup. I asked Shadow to unfold his wings, he did.

"So what is it you want Hiccup?" I had asked the frail viking. He asked me if I wanted anything and if I was feeling OK. I had answered that I was just angry that Dagur would do that to me and I just wanted to find a way to calm down. He slowly nodded realizing that I was going through a tough time and I needed some time to calm down and relax. I also asked him he could bring me some fish. Hiccup entered the room a few minutes later, he was carrying two baskets full of fish. Shadow and I eyed the fish with an ever-growing hunger that we didn't know existed.

We looked at each other and then to Hiccup in shock before started to devour the fish. Hiccup looked at me eating my fish like a dragon instead of like a human. He gave me a stern look and shrugged. Resuming to eat vigorously. We ate and ate until we were down to the last fish. I shot a demanding look at Shadow and he shot a demanding look at me. We both wanted the same thing. The last fish. I kicked Shadow's basket sending the fish hurtling out the window then I dove after it.

Nightshadow folded his wings and did the same. I had my arms and legs at my side while looking at the fish then I pulled a pin on the end of my new armor. (I had made a few adjustments shortly after building it.) Just as I planned thin paper-like material burst out of the sides and spine of the armor and set me gliding through the air. I picked up speed and caught the fish. I retracted the wings and held the fish in the air and letting out a triumphant roar of victory. Shadow who was still gliding downward took the fish from my grasp and eaten the fish! He shortly upchucking it afterwards.

The head of the fish had found it's way into my hand. I looked at the bitten and saliva covered fish head, shrugged my shoulders and devoured what was left ignoring the disgusted look on the faces of the teens and other vikings watching. I didn't what anybody thought about me, but if they spoke their mind then we would have a problem. The dragons don't know that I can speak and understand their language, well Stormfly knows and she didn't tell the other dragons and I know this.

I trust Shadow and his judgement and he trusts me as the same. I didn't know what the other vikings were thinking and I didn't want to. Hiccup's face turned from disgust to awe as his brain kicked into gear and realized I jumped out the window and landed unhurt. He quickly told the other teens what he saw me do. "They obviously did not see the flying gear." Shadow said. I chuckled.

"I know." I responded. After Hiccup had told the other teens he had witnessed. They all turned around at once with faces of awe, disbelief, and renewed if not newfound respect. I smiled.

"What?" I asked.

"You jumped out a two story building and landed on your feet unhurt, and without the help of a dragon."

"So?"

"That's nearly impossible." Astrid had retorted.

"Nearly." I had repeated. Astrid was mumbled under her breath so I had touched Shadow's mind and used his ears to hear what she was saying.

"Lucky little brat, he could have hurt himself and he knows it, but no he just makes it look like it was nothing. He's insane." She had stopped mumbling so I stopped using Nightshadow's increased hearing.

I smiled.

"Insane?" I had said adding a coolly hitch in my tone.

She stammered, not catching the fact I understood her mumbling. "Yes. You are insane. No one would ever do that. No one."

"Really? So I guess no one would ever do this either." I said smirking.

"Do wha-" I tackled her and in return Shadow tackled Stormfly. Shadow and I had pinned our unsuspecting opponents simultaneously. The other vikings watched in surprised shock as Astrid and Stormfly stopped fighting and admitted defeat. I looked at Nightshadow and him at me, we looked at each other and noded at the same time and had gotten off our pinned and defeated opponents.

I had reached a hand out to Astrid and pulled her up. She had looked offended, no it was more than that, it was anger. She knocked my hand out of the way. "What the heck was that for!?" She demanded. "You can't just tackle me for no reason at all."

"It was a joke for Thor's sake. Learn to have some fun." I replied.

"No. It was embarrassing." She said as she hit me over and over again on the head. I rolled my eyes as I either dodged or deflected her controlled bursts of anger. When she realized just how fruitless her attempts of causing pain really were, she was fumed. Astrid finally her barrage of fists and opted to grab a fistful of my shirt and get real close in my face.

She towered me by inches. "Go to the middle of town at noon. Bring armor, that lizard of yours, and a weapon. We can settle this like real vikings." She sneered as she threw me into the ground and stormed off.


	5. The fight

Chapter #5: The fight

Noon that day.

Everybody on Berk came to the town center, they didn't know what was about to happen. Shadow had said that they were going to start a meeting about now. "It's going to have to wait." I responded. Astrid had just entered the town center. Things were about to get very interesting. I was wearing nothing but the clothes on my back, and my shield. Thanks to a leather strap I added to the ends, I could wear it over my shoulder. Astrid, however was wearing metal armor. We both had swords but mine was enchanted and made from an earthen metal. Her sword was a vaguely familiar metal.

Shadow had then told me that it was a metal that is formed when a gronkle eats certain rocks. I nodded in response and thanked him. Astrid also had a metal shield and another sword. I had my shield and my weapons to accompany my quick wits and reflexes. She yelled and ran at me. Her sword pointed at my chest. Retrieving my sword from the hilt in the shield, I chuckled. Shadow fired at Stormfly as I lazily deflected the blows that Astrid attempted to make.

Finding an opening, I struck at Astrid's sides. My sword easily destroyed the armor she was wearing and blood seeped on the black blade. At the same time Shadow struck Stormfly. Astrid tried to hit me from below and I blocked the attack with my shield. We fought for what seemed for days, we exhausted. It turned out we were only fighting for fifteen minutes. Astrid would almost hit me and I would slash at her.

Stormfly would evade an attack then get hit soon after. Shadow had lost his concentration and was bit in his foreleg. I had felt the same effect on my corresponding arm. We screamed in pain at the exact same time. My right arm faltered and I threw my sword to my left hand and began to strike again. I was an equally skilled fighter with my opposite arm. Astrid was shocked and so was everybody else, they were not expecting to see that and Astrid now knew that we had a weakness.

Astrid had slashed at my right collarbone and once again Shadow and I screamed in unison. Shadow's same collarbone had twitched slightly at the pain. Everybody had gasp they now known that Shadow and I were connected but they didn't understand it. Shadow had stood on his hind legs and clawed Stromfly's hips. She screamed. Astrid had looked at her dragon, wrong move. I struck at her sides, her chest and belly, and at her collarbones, lastly, hit her in the head with the hilt of my sword knocking her out cold. Ending the fight.

Shadow and I were bleeding and badly cut, but Astrid and Stormfly were worse. Shadow and Stormfly were still fighting, then Stormfly had caught a glimpse at her rider, Astrid. She had attacked Shadow with renewed energy and strength. I thought that it was over, I was dead wrong. She slashed and clawed at Shadow. We were screaming and fidgeting uncontrollably. She then lunged at my chest with her claws trying to cut me open. She was screaming at me in dragonese.

Saying that she would kill me, rip me to pieces and burn my remains. She managed to claw at my ribs multiple times. All I felt was pain. searing pain, unbelievable pain. Then I saw red covering my shirt, like a disease it spread covering my shirt in stains. Shadow was twitching and screaming. He felt my pain. I grabbed my sword and started to slash at Stormfly. My chest felt like it was torn open, wait, it was. I started screaming at Stormfly in dragonese.

I was insulting her family, and insulting her knowledge saying that she was stupid and that she should burn for all eternity, that she didn't deserve to live and that she should leave Berk and never come back. Hiccup recognized that I was insulting her but he didn't know what was said. Hiccup was gasping and trying to comfort Stormfly but my insults were too powerful, too constant, too personal. I finished insulting by saying that she was acted like a hatchling by attacking me. She was furious. She clawed and slashed at me, each attacking hitting a part of my body.

Shadow had tackled Stormfly from behind and was pinned in between his knees, repeatedly clawing at her face. Each time he clawed, her blood dripped on the ground, it sizzled as it hit the ground. I had learned dragon blood was extremely hot, it basically boiled in their veins. I figured that it didn't hurt them because they breathed fire and were used to the heat. Stormfly was screaming and trying to stop his claws from hitting her in the face. He clawed at the paws and clawed her face with more force than before.

It was a horrific sight, Shadow was beating Stormfly in the face and She in return couldn't move. After watching for another minute, he made on last claw to her face, got up and smacked her with his powerful tail, knocking her out cold. He spat in her face, snorted then walked over to me as if nothing had just happened. He was mumbling insults under his breath. I was still bleeding but I was too shocked to feel any pain. Nobody was expecting that from Shadow not even me.

The other dragons were frozen in fear and shock. The vikings mouths hung open in shock. The teens were also surprised. Hiccup and Toothless looked at each other exchanging nervous and surprised looks. I gave Shadow one last look before everything had gone black as if someone had put a blindfold on me from behind. For the split second I had seen Nightshadow begin to fall backward.


	6. The recovery, the talk, and the bones

Chapter #6: The Recovery, The talk and the bones.

I had woken up, from what I could tell, I was in an unfamiliar room. There was only a few windows. I was in a bed, there was a canteen on a bed stand. My canteen. I quickly taken it and drank to my fill, I was really thirsty. A sharp pain had shot from my chest, I can't move too fast. I then realized where I was Gobber's house. I recognized the interior.

I pulled the covers off me, exposing my beaten, bloody, clawed body. I was littered in scrapes, scratches, and I had seen it. A huge rip in my chest. I could literally see a small part of my ribs from one of the many tears on my chest. It was horrifying, I had leaned over and puked all over the floor. I screamed in pain once more then fainted again. The second time I had woke up, I was still in the same room and the covers were pulled over me again. I pulled the covers off again. I was hot and sweaty.

My chest was covered in bandages and by the bed stand were my weapons. Cleaned, shiny and ready to be used if I ever needed them again. I called for my mom and my dad, I called for Healer Jackie, and I called for Shadow. Then I remembered what happened at Dragonblood island. I cried not because physical pain, that pain came in small waves. But in emotional pain my entire village taken from me, right in front of my eyes. I couldn't do anything about it.

Someone knocked on the door. I had told them to come in. Astrid had entered the room, along with Hiccup, Gobber and Stoick. "Taj?" Astrid wanted my attention. "What!" I had answered when the memories of how I ended up in this situation resurfaced. I was angry at her and her dragon. Astrid had stammered. "I wanted to say I'm sorry for what Stormfly did to you. I didn't know she could be so violent." I heard a growl. I looked above me and had seen Shadow on the support beams above me. I had replied in a calm tone. "I know you're sorry for her actions, but dragons have a mind of their own. I need to hear it from her."

Astrid nodded. Not understanding what I meant. "Shadow can you help me?" I had asked him out loud. He flew down and landed on his four legs. He pulled the covers off me and nudged me off the bed and on to the saddle. We were outside where Gobber takes care of the dragons Hiccup had told me. I had gotten a good look at Stormfly, she was beaten badly. Her entire face was swollen, all of her wrists were broken and she had many broken bones. She looked nothing like herself.

She had looked and seen us, looking at her. She had told me that she was sorry and that she will never hit me again. I nodded"I should have stopped after he tackled you but I didn't. I'm sorry." She nodded and growled at Gobber when he had come near to help her. "Don't growl at him. He is trying to help you." She gave me a skeptical look. "Don't look at me like that. Look what you did to me." I said as I slid off Nightshadow. I ripped of the shirt showing my bandages. I winced my ribs and legs hurt. I then inhaled a breath and cut the bandages with a knife I always kept in my boot.

The cuts and other wounds were glowing from the sunlight. Astrid and Hiccup gaged as the wounds were in full view of everybody. Astrid had gotten her senses and gave Stormfly a disbelieving look. "She did THAT?" Astrid exclaimed. "Yes." I had answered she did. I looked at my exposed ribs and had gotten the sudden urge to poke at them. "Don't even think about." Nightshadow said as his voice slipped fatherly tone, as it usually does when I'm about to do something stupid. "Just because I think about something, doesn't mean I will actually do it." I replied.

"What in Thor's name are ya doing? Now I've got to re-clean your injuries and replace all of those bandages." Gobber said in disbelief. I rolled my eyes. He sighed and walked over to Stormfly while she was distracted and when he was about to relocate her claw, she snapped at him. "What did I just say?" I demanded. Stormfly and everybody else tensed. "Sorry. I just don't want to feel more pain that I'm already in." She replied with a whine. "Stop whining. That's for hatchlings" I had retorted. "Are you calling me a hatchling?" She demanded. "Uh, Astrid. I think I made her angry." I said smirking, and acting as if I didn't understand her. "Answer me!" She roared and tried to charge at me but she screamed the second she had gotten up.

"How pitiful." I had said."The little baby dragon can't even catch prey a five feet in front of her." She had shot a wall of fire toward me only for me to jump out the way. I smirked. "Told you." I retorted. I had stumbled over to Stormfly's legs and had told Shadow mentally to muzzle Stormfly and pin her. He had agreed. I had taken a mallet from the table a nearby table and bashed the dislocated bones back into their respective places. Stormfly's muzzled screams had scared Astrid.

She ran toward me as I was about to relocate another bone and taken the mallet. She started to scream at me, I just ignored her and taken the mallet from her. She was busy yelling at me to notice me relocate three more bones. She squealed at me again. "What do you think you are doing you meat head? You're hurting my dragon." Astrid said as Stormfly screamed again. I rolled my eyes and relocated another bone. "I'm doing your dragon a favor after being beaten, nearly to death and nearly being cooked alive by your dragon." I had answered without looking at her and relocating more bones in the process.

"She can't fly if multiply bones are dislocated. It would be too painful and she could only fly a foot of the ground if that." She thought for a moment all the while I relocated nearly every out of place bone. Astrid finally responded when I was about to put the last bone into place. "Fine go ahead hurt the very dragon that didn't kill you when you first arrived." I had answered back. "One. She wasn't expecting me when I emerged out of that bush so I have the element of surprise. Two when I did I was in her blind spot a split second later, and three She wouldn't even attack me anyway because I had the scent of a night fury all over me. I've been with Shadow six years prior to my landing on Berk. She wouldn't dare kill the last of the Night fury." I finished the statement and relocated the last and final bone.

I smiled at my work. "There." I had said. "Now, she is only as half as ugly as before." Astrid had gasped and Stormfly had snorted with disbelief. Astrid had tried to punch me when I grabbed her fish in my open hand and closed it to secure the I had slid center of her chest and kicked her in the shins and flipped her on her back earning a groan of pain from Astrid.

I knelt down to her head and had said "Why do you always resort to violence to solve your problems Astrid? It will only hurt you in the long run." I smiled at her and gotten up. The pain in my ribs and legs seemed to disappear. I had Shadow stop pinning Stormfly and I had gotten in the saddle. "Hey, where are you going. I still need to clean and bandage your wounds." Gobber yelled as Shadow and I flew to Hiccup's house.


	7. Another Talk with a deal thrown in

Chapter #7: Another talk with a deal thrown in

We had landed in front of Hiccup's house and ran inside. Shadow through the window, and me though the front door. I was stopped by Stoick as I was heading up the steps. He wanted to talk to me about Shadow and what had happened at the center of town. I nodded my head shamefully walked toward Stoick. He pulled up a chair next to him and he asked me why did I fight with Astrid and how we both ended up in the town square with weapons.

I had told him that I needed to let Shadow out the room first, he sighed and let me go open the door. Shadow and I were plopped down were plopped down in front of Stoick moments later. "Where to do I begin?" I had asked Stoick.

He had told me to explain everything I thought was necessary. I explained about the fish, and the window and the deal I made with Astrid. Stoick was surprised, shocked, and overall amazed.

"She basically made you fight her in front of everybody in town for embarrassing her?" Stoick asked.

"If you put it like that then yes, she did." I replied. "Shadow beat the heck out of Stormfly and I knocked out Astrid. After all, Stormfly didn't get murdered by Shadow and Astrid got to let out some anger. Either way, it's a win-win situation." Stoick nodded.

"Well, in a way I'm impressed you managed to pull it off without killing them. You gave them a reason to hate you, and a reason to respect you. They owe you for it."

"I know." I responded.

"If you want to go upstairs, you can." I nodded.

"Hey Stoick?"

"Yes, Taj?" Stoick replied.

"I want to just say thanks thanks for everything, I mean it to. Without you I would have nothing." He was shocked to hear me say that.

"It was nothing really." He replied.

"No. Stoick. It was something. It was a good deed and you didn't have to let me stay, you could have sent me away and everything, but you didn't. Is there anything I can do anything for you in return?" I asked. After a moment of thinking he spoke.

"There is one thing." He had said.

"What is it I had asked. "Join the dragon academy in training tomorrow. The meeting will be rescheduled tomorrow at around nine o'clock." Stoick had responded.

I nodded and went upstairs. I and had entered the room and Shadow closed the door with a lazy flick of his tail. He had sat down and I had seen the one I had made him was ripped and would not let him fly properly. I wondered why the flight here was bumpier than usual. Will need to make him a new tail later. I looked out the window and realized it was nearly dark outside.

I felt tired as today's events took their toll. I curled in Shadow's wings and let sleep over come me. "I will work on your tail tomorrow." I had told him mentally, he answered sleepily. We had woken up, and we were still tired so we dumped our heads in water. It jolted us awake it was cold, too cold. At least we are wide awake. He agreed.

We had walked downstairs and found Hiccup and Toothless eating breakfast with Stoick. I had sat down next to Hiccup and Shadow laid on the floor next to Toothless. We had eaten in silence Hiccup shot glances at me and Toothless shot glances Nightshadow. It had felt like we had done something wrong.

"Did we do something wrong?" I had asked Hiccup and Toothless. Hiccup nodded his head and his dragon snorted in reply. "What did we do to make you angry at us?" I asked. He had explained that Stormfly and Astrid were too beaten up to go to the academy and that they promised some kid named Gustav as a replacement dragon rider not knowing in the future that I would come along and make that impossible promise come true.

I nodded. "So. It's not like he will do more bad than good, I mean look at Snoutloud and Hookfang." I shot back. "He is he is exactly like the two of them. The only difference is Gustav and his dragon which he named Fanghook is that they are inexperienced and younger than Hookfang and Snoutload.

"Why can't you do it? You have the time and you have the experience with dragons and their behavior." I had answered, already knowing where this was going to go.

"I am Berk's Blacksmith and the vikings are very needy people, I don't have the time. Astrid is hurt thanks to you, Snoutloud will do more harm than good and the twins are definitely out of question." Hiccup stated.

"How about Fishlegs?" I argued. "He has a sufficient amount of knowledge on dragon behavior and ways to train them." I commented.

"He knows how to train them in theory, but when it comes down to actually doing the training he doesn't have the fastest reflexes, so if the dragon were to do something vi-" I had cut him off.

"So, he might get a little burned and everybody else is a no, then I guess just tell him to wait until another time. I'm sure Gustav will understand." I replied.

"Gustav will not be happy about that". Hiccup had retorted.

"Welcome to life Hiccup. And here's a newsflash. It's nowhere near fair. My entire village was killed right in front of me, and even were they were alive. I've lied to them everyday of my life just to keep Shadow a secret, and when they finally did see him years later. They tried to kill him and sell his corpse. Not only that but they shunned me, and were planning to banish me from the tribe. They only forgave me when Dagur shows up and starts killing people, and we have to go save them from what they caused in the first place."

He slowly nodded knowing that I was boiling with rage. Stoick had came into the discussion by suggesting that I train Gustav and Fanghook. I had immediately refused. "Why not?" Hiccup asked.

"You said you've studied all of the dragon species for several years, you have probably studied species that haven't even been seen in Berk!" Hiccup had said as he started to get excited.

"I actually have studied species unknown to Berk. I've been everywhere the hairy hooligans have yet to discover and more. I have seen and studied every single dragon species of there is, well almost." Hiccup had then repeated his offer for me to train Gustav.

I still refused making an excuse that Shadow had developed emotional problems after beating Stormfly to a pulp. Shadow had rolled his eyes and smacked me in the head with his wings. I heard his mental voice in my head, I have gotten used to hearing his voice but I had always been amazed by it.

His voice was calm, soothing and peaceful, but at other times it was harsh, violent, cruel and unsettling. He had told me not to lie on him just so I could get out of doing something I didn't want to do. It wasn't right, and in some cases it could get us killed.

He was right. So I took a deep breath and accepted an offer, I knew I would regret.


	8. New gear and little kids

Chapter #8: New Gear and little kids

We had finished eating and ran off to Berk's town hall, there was a meeting about to start it was supposed to already have been dealt with yesterday but thanks to unfortunate events that had taken place instead it will be held today. Surprisingly the meeting actually went by pretty fast. The meeting was basically about what to do about some old man's house.

"He probably died." I had said to Shadow in the comfortable, private place known as the mind.

"Maybe." He had answered back. When the meeting was finally over it was decided to be torn down and have the parts used to help build more things for Berk.

After the meeting had asked Hiccup if I could use some of his tools to make new gadgets for Shadow. Hiccup looked at Shadow's ripped, chewed and mangled tailfin. He agreed. Shadow and I had followed to Hiccup to his workshop. He told me to put everything back when I was done and to fly to the academy to start training Gustav. I nodded and watched as the two as they off. I looked at Shadow's broken tail fin, shook my head and went to work.

I had fixed the damaged tail developed two newer ones and, a saddle, and fixed the damaged one. One tail was designed to be used manually, and the other was special because it gave Shadow the ability to fly on his own. When I make Shadow equipment, I follow one simple rule: Make them a light as air and as thin as paper. The new saddle was the same color as his scales, midnight black and made with thin materials.

The saddle despite the size had more bags that varied in depth, were lighter and gave us more mobility, I had made a place to put my weapons, and shield. I even found a way to make it safer and faster to get on and off his back. The saddle also included a buckle that I could unlatch and that would activate my gliding wings and throw me off the saddle for emergency and stunt purposes.

I had retrieved the Quiett weapons that lay hidden in the shield and put them in its respective place. Shadow and I tested the new equipment and it all worked out perfectly. Satisfied with the new equipment's performance, I swapped the recently repaired one for the newer manual model. I had put everything from the old saddle, put it in the new one, and strapped it to his back. Shadow had asked me if that is a good idea.

"Sure." I told Hiccup that I would be in here working on tools for you. I made you two new tails, and a new saddle.

"What about the automatic tail, can I tell the dragons, will you tell Hiccup?" He asked.

"What, No. He doesn't have to know and neither do the dragons." I replied.

"Fine." Shadow agreed.

"What are we going to do about the auto tail then?" He asked.

"We will put in our room." I replied. We flew over to Hiccup's house, ran up the steps, down the hall and opened the door to the room across from Hiccup's. I put the automatic tail and Shadow's first saddle in my chest and secured the lock.

I wasn't really excited about spending the next few hours attempting to teach little kids about dragons That's Hiccups job, not mine. I had gotten on Shadow's back and we flew to the academy. We arrived at the academy every one of the riders were there alongside their dragons, except for Astrid and Stormfly. Shadow was equipped in the new gear. Hiccup had asked me if I put the tools back where I had found them and asked what I had made.

I had told him I had make a new tail and saddle and I did put the tools back by the way. Hiccup noded. Hiccup and I spent the next the next few minutes looking for Gustav. And we found him, he was walking into the entrance the same time we were about to leave. We greeted him and led him into the academy.

Hiccup explained to Gustav that I would be teaching him about dragons and that he would have to listen to me, not Snoutloud. Gustav nodded in agreement. Hiccup had also mentioned that he would be watching the first few training sessions.

Gustav and me looked at each other then at Hiccup and we nodded in agreement. "First off. All dragons can be trained." I said. Gustav nodded. "Second. Never underestimate dragons they-." Gustav thought of it as a good idea to interrupt me.

"I know they are faster and stronger than people." Gustav cut me off. "I had a monstrous nightmare." He informed.

"I thought he smelled funny." Shadow thrown in. However, Gustav continued to talk unaware of me and Shadow's conversation. I was talking to both of them at the same time. (I am the master at this skill.).

"You named your dragon Fanghook?" I asked the short viking.

"Yes, is that a problem?" Gustav shot back.

"Well no, I guess it's not, but isn't Snoutloud's dragon named Hookfang?" I asked.

"Yes that's where I got the name from. Duh." I said nothing.

"Wow, this kid is annoying. Can I eat him?" Shadow asked.

"No." I replied.

"Please?" He begged.

"I s-. OK if he gets any more annoying then maybe." I replied.

"What are you thinking about?" Gustav asked.

"What to teach you first." I lied. He was getting excited and I was getting agitated.

"What will you teach me?" Gustav asked.

"Whatever you want to learn, I will gladly teach you, but first you need your dragon." I said. Gustav nodded and sent a high pitched whistle into the air.

Moments later, a monstrous nightmare came gliding into the entrance and joined Gustav at his side. Fanghook looked happy to be with his rider.

"Nice dragon Gustav." I commented.

"Thanks." Gustav replied.

"Gustav. Now, it's time to start your training, what do you want to learn?" Gustav thought for a minute before giving me his answer.

"I want to learn how to fight." I looked at Shadow and smirked.

"Ok, sure." I replied.

"Gustav. I will teach you how to fight, and Fanghook will learn too." Gustav and the rest of the teens looked confused.

"When do you want to start?" I asked Gustav.

"Immediately."

I looked at Shadow and quickly closed my hand into a fist and cracking my knuckles. Shadow smirked or I thought he did. Can night fury smirk? Any way. Shadow charged a fireball and pounced on the monstrous nightmare. Before the poor dragon even realized he was on the floor, it was too late. He couldn't move an inch. Shadow had his teeth on Fanghook neck, Shadow had his put his hind legs on Fanghook four leg joints so he couldn't move them. All this happened in a blink of an eye.

Gustav was in shock, he didn't expect that to happen and from the looks of the teens faces neither did they. Fanghook struggled, he was trying to escape. Fanghook was powerless. No matter where or how he tried to attack, they all ended the same way. Failure.

"Ok I think we've seen enough." Hiccup was asking me to stop. Gustav had given me a sad look.

"Please. Please make your dragon stop, you're hurting him." Gustav begged.

"I am not having Shadow hurt Fanghook, he is uncomfortable, yes but not in any pain". He seemed to calm down a little.

"What do I have to do to make him stop?" The boy asked.

"What did you want me to teach you?" I asked. Before he could say another word, I walked to the back of the academy, picked up a sword, and handed it to Gustav. I drew my sword from its sheath and stood in front of the two dragons, waiting.

"I don't know how to fight." Gustav protested.

"Didn't I just agree to teach you?" I asked. He nodded.

"Then raise your sword, and charge. "I'll go easy on you." I commented.

"No I won't fight you." He said it as if he had a choice in the matter.

"Then how will you learn?" I questioned him. I love arguing, debates they made town meetings, so much more interesting.

"Fine." I said resolutely. Gustav blinked in shock.

"You're just going to let me walk away. Without learning a thing?" He asked.

"Yep." I replied with a matter-of-fact tone etched in my voice. He put the sword back where I had found it and started to walk toward the exit.

"Oh before I forget to tell you-." I started to talk to Gustav again.

"Yes?" Gustav asked.

"He won't be coming with you." I said as I pointed to the hopeless monstrous nightmare. I still continued to speak increasing my voice volume the farther he had gotten to me and closer to the exit.

"But if you leave now, you will be by all means you will be a dragon rider." I smirked. That stopped him, literally.

"What. Let me get this straight, if I leave the academy right now I will never see Fanghook again, but I will also be a dragon rider?" I noded

"That's about right." I replied.

"So what you're saying is I will be a dragon rider without a dragon?" He asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." I answered. The other teens all looked confused, all except Hiccup.

"Wait. What does that mean?" Ruffnut asked.

"It means Gustav will lose his academy privileges, never get to see his dragon, and he technically wouldn't be a dragon rider, because he won't have a dragon to ride." I smiled.

"Hiccup's right you know." I said. Gustav shot me a glance that was full of hatred, distrust, disrespect and most importantly anger. Gustav lunged for the nearest weapon he could find. Snoutloud's sword. He charged at me full speed. When his sword was within reach of its target he slashed, hacked and swung his sword.

Relentlessly trying to kill me. I parried, blocked, and dodged to my heart's contempt. He couldn't get a hit in. Whenever he failed an attack he tried another that was twice a fast and accurate as the previous one.

I had to say I was pretty impressed. Although he is extremely annoying, when he wants something done he can be pretty persistent.

After about five minutes of fighting I had gotten bored and easily disarmed him and smacked him in the head with the hilt of his own sword. I didn't hit him hard enough to break anything but I made it clear who was the champion of this duel. Gustav hit the ground with a soft thud and gotten up quickly afterward and started brushing off dust. He had a defeated look on his face.

"I'm sorry I charged at you." He mumbled.

"What was that you said. I didn't hear that?" I replied. Gustav repeated the apology a bit louder.

"I still can't hear you." I said again, trying to get a rise out of him.

"I'm sorry I charged at you." He said for the third time as clear as day. So that everyone could hear.

"Feeling better?" I asked Gustav.

"Yes." I looked at Shadow who growled at Fanghook when he attempted to escape again.

"Can you let him go now, I'm sure he probably has about a million cramps right now." I sighed and mentally told Shadow to get off Fanghook and to walk by my side. He didn't want to. I know exactly what he is thinking and feeling thanks to the connection we share. He did eventually get up and was ready by my side.

Shadow and I said our goodbyes to our friends and we flew off to Hiccup's house and opened the door. I went up the steps and into the guest room across the hall from Hiccup's room and went off to bed.


	9. The Dream and the Punishment

Chapter #9: The dream and the punishment

I woke the next morning feeling refreshed. I looked to my right and found Shadow was still sleeping. He was curled up, he had his head laying on his claws, lazily swishing his tail and he was feeling happy and calm and peaceful. He was enjoying his dream. So I stepped over his tail trying not to disturb him. Then again, what was he dreaming about? I could find out. I thought about it for a second, then I decided not too. It would be rude and nosey, but then again I've done it like a million times before.

I finally sat down by him and laid down using Shadow's body as a pillow. Shadow was sleepily was mumbling something about fighting in dragonese. Now my curiosity was peaked. I wanted to find out what he was dreaming about so I concentrated on Shadow and closed my eyes. I heard a weird growling but I understood it perfectly. It was dragonese.

But, that doesn't matter right now, because I was too shocked on what I was seeing. It was my dragon. Shadow, but it wasn't the one I had gotten to know; this one was different. He was smaller, his scales were not as thick and not as dark. He seemed to be talking to someone. It was another dragon.

This other dragon was a bit smaller than the dream version of Shadow. Although Shadow was obviously older one of the two, and they were arguing on who was the better hunter. The two dragons were in a cave debating trying to make the other see to their point of view and they didn't seem notice me and I was too preoccupied to care.

I was staring at me surroundings, amazed by what I saw. The cave was huge, big enough for about five other dragons, fully grown dragons. Crystal-like stalactites were hanging from the ceiling as they glistened and shined. I couldn't describe to you how it looked. But if I had to I would use two words: Breathtakingly Beautiful.

Shadow and the other dragon were starting to physical, clawing and biting at each other. The stalactites were starting to shake distorting the wonderful sight. Shadow tackled the other dragon and I had to jump out the way to avoid being crushed by the massive dragons. Shadow blinked when he saw me. Shadow was on top holding the other dragon's wrists in one of his claws and had the other set at his throat. "Clearly I'm the better one." Shadow announced proudly.

I had gotten a good look at the other dragon. I blinked in shock, it was another night fury, but most importantly it was Toothless, Hiccup's Dragon.

I looked at Toothless then at Shadow and back at Toothless. I will have to talk to Shadow about this when he wakes up. If he doesn't yell at me first. (Shadow hates it when I enter his dreams without his permission first) I forgot to ask him before we had fallen asleep last night. I hate it when he does it to me and he needs to ask me beforehand as well. Oh well the damage is done. Toothless grinned mischievously and kicked him in the tail. Shadow looked behind him, and relocated his claws for a second or two but that's all the time Toothless needed.

Toothless headbutted Shadow in the head and rolled out of his grip. Shadow quickly realized what had happened and gotten back into fighting position and retracted his teeth. His teeth were like jagged rocks you might find on the side of a cliff. Sharp, pointy, and deadly. "Who's the hunter now?" Toothless taunted.

"Still me." Shadow replied. He pounced on Toothless. Then image started to falter, the world seemed to spins million times a second and then the world stopped spinning immediately and then I started to shake as well.

After a minute I realized someone was shaking me. I bolted upright and put the unknown person in a headlock. I had gotten to my senses and realized I had Hiccup in a headlock. I let him go a minute later and apologized. Shadow growled at Hiccup and then I noticed Toothless was also in the room. That's when I realized that he was just growling at Toothless. "What are you doing in my room?" Shadow questioned Hiccup.

"Who do you think you are yelling at my friend like that Toothless, and if you haven't noticed it's my house. I can go where I want when I want." Toothless shot back.

Hiccup started to intervene. Stepping in between the two dragons. I looked at Hiccup and greeted him. He greeted me in response. "Unless you plan on to losing another limb. That's not how you handle angry dragons. You of all people should now that's a one way ticket to Valhalla." He soon seemed to become aware of the situation he was in and ran back to my side.

"My turn?" I asked Hiccup he nodded and gestured me in the direction of the two dragons.

"Watch." I told Hiccup. He did. I cleared My throat and yelled at them.

"You guys are being immature and acting like hatchlings. Stop fighting in front of us or I will personally lock you both in a dragon pen and keep you there until I say otherwise." That shut them up real quick.

"Sorry, Taj." Shadow replied in dragonese.

"Yeah sorry Taj." Toothless added. They wined.

"Hiccup. They're done fighting, for now." He nodded. Toothless soon regained his composure and started growling at me when he realized what I just did.

"Don't threaten my human Toothless, or your name soon will match your appearance." Shadow growled.

Few minutes later.

The doors were slammed shut and the lock was secured, making it impossible for them to escape. I had knocked the dragons unconscious by hitting a soft spot in their nose (I had learned that years ago.) and I had the other teens help me bring them to the academy and lock them in a holding pen.

The night furys had woken up a few minutes after the door was locked. They were both locked in the same pen and I keep my promises, they will not be allowed out until Hiccup and I both agreed otherwise. Shadow and Toothless both whining, trying to get pitied on. They got the point that I wouldn't budge. They stopped whining and started growling at each other and snapping at each other's false tails.

The teens and I walked out of the academy, ignoring the fight.


	10. The release and the race

Chapter #10: The release and the race.

A week passed since Hiccup and I had locked Shadow and Toothless, and I was beginning to feel empty inside. As if something had blown a crater sized hole in my life and I was trying to repair the damage. It's only been a week. I tell myself. A very, very long week. I had told Shadow that I would ignore all his attempts to talk to me, both mentally and physically.

I had spent my time helping Hiccup and Gobber at the smithy and training Gustav. Whenever I was training Fanghook, I would get the urge to look back at the night furies. They would whine and give me the innocent, puppy face. Their head in between their claws and making their eyes sparkle. Just like something a cat would do. It would almost work on me. Almost. Gustav would get impatient and snap me back into reality by yelling my name.

Whenever I go to the smithy, I think about all the things I've made for Shadow in secret while I lived on dragonblood island, his false tails, and his saddles. The point is I can't do anything for a second or two without having it somehow relate to Shadow. I am hopeless. I can't go a few seconds without thinking of him. Now I sit here in my empty room, miserable.

Looking at shadow's bed. (a few years back I had made Shadow a bed out of wood, bedrock, and iron.) He loves that bed, he sleeps in it every night, snoring away. I was ripped from my thoughts when I heard a knock at the door. "It's me, Hiccup." The person behind the closed door called out. "Can I come in?" Hiccup asked.

"Door's unlocked." I answered back. He entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"So what's going on, Hiccup?" I asked.

"Its Shadow and Toothless, I want to see if they have behaved." Hiccup requested. I had nothing to do for the moment so I decided to head over to the academy. We walked out the house and went on our way. The teens started to get curious and started to follow us. After being inside a night fury's head for so long. (six years for a matter of fact).

I have developed extraordinary hearing and sight. I can hear Hiccup's shallow and controlled breathing, the shallow thump of his heartbeat and a few vikings arguing about cattle six miles back. Anyway. The teens were following us, as I said before they are curious to what we were doing and where we were going.

You can stop stalking us now. I called to the teens behind us, who were trying to be as quiet as possible. Hiccup was surprised and so were the rest of the teens. "How did you hear us?" Astrid asked. I smiled.

"If I told you the truth, you wouldn't believe me and I told you a lie, you would pester me for the truth." I had responded.

"Oh, sure that makes perfect sense." Astrid responded sarcastically. I rolled my eyes and continued to walk, letting Astrid and the others think on what I just said.

As expected they started to follow me and Hiccup again. A few minutes later we arrived at the academy and walked over the holding pen that Toothless and Shadow were being kept in. They were on opposite sides of the pen purring and nudging at the pen door.

"They don't look like they are fighting, do they?" I asked Hiccup.

"No. No, they don't." I opened the holding pen door and the night furies burst out of their prison.

I had Fishlegs and Snoutloud come by and feed them and clean the cages a few times a day. They did their Job well. Shadow had tackled me and purred in delight. "Finally free." Shadow shouted gleefully in my mind.

"How's my favorite lizard coming along." I asked.

"Good. Very good." Shadow replied.

"Did Fishlegs and Snoutloud treat you two nicely?" I questioned.

"Snoutloud complained for most of the time, saying that he could be somewhere else." Shadow replied.

"And Fishlegs?" I asked.

"He was terrified and fascinated. He wanted to learn more about Night Fury but at the same time, he wasn't sure how I would react." He replied.

"What did he feed you?" I asked.

"Fish. Many different types of fish." I nodded.

"How about you?" Shadow asked.

"My week was terrible." I replied

"How so?" Shadow asked.

"I couldn't do anything without feeling guilty about locking you up." I replied.

"Good, now you know not to do that again." Shadow said humorously. I couldn't help but to crack a smile.

I looked over at Hiccup and Toothless, they were looking at us. Wondering what we were doing. "What do you guys want to do?" I asked the teens.

"How about a race?"

"Sure." I agreed.

"Shadow up for a race?" I asked using my voice this time. (Thanks to the bond and his overall intelligence. Shadow can easily understand English.) He grunted and let me get on the saddle.

"On your mark...Get set...GO." Hiccup shouted and the dragons shot off. (We decided to start our race at the cove, circle and weave our way all throughout Berk and end at the academy). As we shot off, Shadow and I had heard the familiar sound of the sound barrier being broken. (It sounds like the crack of a whip but ten times louder.)

We looked behind us to see all of the riders either too stunned to move or surprised by our speed and just sat there trying to register what just occurred. My lead didn't last as long as I thought it would because Hiccup and Toothless were flying toward us and decreasing the distance between us. Soon Shadow and I were neck and neck with viking and dragon. The rest of the riders were flying close behind us.

"Shadow plan A-2." I screamed with the air whipping at my dark brown hair and lightly stinging my dark skinned flesh. He nodded and threw me off the saddle with a quick, violent but controlled jerk of his body.

I flew through the air, shooting past Shadow's dark scaled head. Within seconds the teens and my dragon were about ten feet behind me. The wind was really starting to sting now, my eyes felt like they were being ripped out of their sockets, my skin started to feel cold from the heavy winds goosebumps had already started to form on my arms, neck and legs. My clothes were thrashing and screaming in the air.

Vikings, riders, and dragons all watched amazed, shocked, scared and with unwavering content as I flew through the air, without the aid of my dragon, or my gliding gear. I clutched my sides and spun through the air, dodging houses and other viking-made structures. My flight only lasted for about forty-five seconds in all before the wind speed seemed to decrease and my hair and clothes stopped their vicious screams, my eyes slowly stopped to sting, the goosebumps that now littered my entire being seemed to slowly decrease in numbers as the heat returned to my body.

As the last of the goosebumps seemed to fade, and so did the satisfying, invigorating rush adrenaline. Shadow shot from somewhere behind me and was now below me waiting patiently for me to drop in the saddle and re-tighten the straps. I plopped down on the saddle moments later and did just that. Shadow and I were in the lead with Hiccup and Toothless getting farther and farther away.

The vikings were clapping and shouting far below us. I spotted Stoick and Gustav in the swarm of vikings and metal armor. Stoick was impressed. That was for sure. Gustav had another expression on his face: bewilderment.

Shadow and I turned the bend that led to the academy and sped toward it hastily. We had looked behind us to see Hiccup and Toothless gaining speed and closing in on us. We were neck-and-neck once more. Hiccup and Toothless were determined to beat us. Sadly for them, so where we. Shadow and I hit the dusty, dirt floor that was the academy entrance.

"Ha! Beat you!" Hiccup and I yelled at each other simultaneously. Hiccup and I then realized the shocking and sickly-sweet truth on what had just happened. We tied.

We sat there with shocked looks on our faces as the rest of the riders landed on their destination. Astrid landed first, then Snoutloud, then the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and last but not least, Fishlegs.

"What's wrong with you two?" Astrid asked intrigued.

Hiccup and I tried to explain the same thing at the same time. We were stuttering and stammering, but just couldn't get the words to form. "We- we t-t-w-w." Ruffnut was raising his hand and saying "Oh, pick me, pick me." His twin was pulling his arm down and screaming

"No, pick me instead, pick me instead." Astrid rolled her eyes.

"What do you want? She demanded.

"Hiccup and Taj are saying that they tied and want a rematch." Tuffnut explained.

"I was going to say that!" Ruffnut exclaimed.

"Well. I said it first, so ha." Tuffnut and Ruffnut started sissy fighting each other, only to be separated by their dragon. Barf had hoisted Ruffnut above the ground and belch did the same with the remaining twin. They still tried to hit each other despite the fact that they were out of each other's reach. I smiled and walked up to Toothless' right ear so that no one else could hear what I was about to do.

I whispered in dragonese, soft enough so no one could eavesdrop and loud enough for Toothless to hear. I spoke in a clear, challenging, and mocking tone. "Prepare to lose next race, my friend." Toothless' eyes grew to the size of bowling balls and he shot me a surprised look.

"You know our language?" The black dragon said in my ear.

"I'm fluent." I whispered back.

I stepped back to Shadow's side and told my night fury what I had just done, from the privacy of my mind. I smirked at Toothless and he did the one thing I didn't expect. He fainted.


	11. Suspicion and knowledge go hand and hand

Chapter #11: Suspicion and knowledge go hand and hand

"Toothless!" Hiccup shouted as he knelt by his dragon's side.

"What did you do to him?" Hiccup asked with uncertainty in his voice.

"I did nothing to him, I whispered in his ear." I replied.

"What could you say that could make him do that?" Hiccup asked curiously. I gulped audibly.

"It's not what I said it's how I said it." I answered after I recovered.

"What did you say and how did you say it?" Hiccup asked curiously.

"Maybe later." I replied.

"Why not now?"

"They're here." I replied as I gestured toward the teens and pointed to the crowd of vikings, who were now walking to the entrance to the academy. He nodded.

"Now, please get me some dragon nip and a bucket of water." All of the teens, except Hiccup (I told him to stay so I could talk to him some more) ran throughout the academy gathering the supplies I had requested.

"What's the dragon nip for?" Hiccup asked.

"To calm Toothless down when he wakes up." I answered.

"Why will he need to be calmed down?" He asked worriedly.

"He will still be freaked out about what I said." He looked enormously confused and asked me about a million questions at once. I silenced the rapidly talking viking with my words, telling him to shut up, take a deep breath and relax.

"Did you just cut me off!?" Hiccup said.

"Yes. yes I did. Now shut up." I responded calmly. The teens had stopped scrambling around and looked at me with a surprised look painted on their faces. I smirked.

Moments later after everybody calmed down, and the supplies were laid by Toothless' unconscious body. I began to work. I had taken the bucket of water and threw the contents in the Night Furies face. Toothless gained consciousness almost immediately.

He bolted upright, knocking me twenty feet in the air. Shadow jumped and retracted his teeth and caught me in between his gums. "Thanks, Shadow." He grunted and nodded his giant scaly head. All of the teens were awestruck by what my dragon had just did.

"He nodded his head!" Fishlegs exclaimed.

"No. He grunted and nodded his head." One of the twins corrected.

"He can do a lot more than that." I said proudly.

"He flew on his own." Astrid said.

"Not exactly." I corrected.

"When he throws me off the saddle, the tail automatically locks itself in the stretched position, so he can glide for hours if need be without my help." Hiccup nodded, I know he was going to ask me about it later.

All of the attention was directed back to Toothless when he growled at me in dragonese. "Well, well. Now I know you can understand me. I knew something didn't smell right. You could understand me and Shadow all along. You understood what we were arguing about. You still locked me in that cell with him anyway." All of the other dragon riders backed off, all except Hiccup.

He started to get closer to Toothless, trying to calm him down. "Hiccup. You get any closer, I'll hurt you. Toothless growled. Hiccup didn't understand what was said, but he got the point. He started to slowly back away from the angry dragon.

"Well go ahead answer me." The dragon demanded fiercely. I just stood there trying to look like I didn't understand.

"Enough of this!" Toothless yelled at me angrily.

"Should I translate for you?" I heard Shadow say in my head.

"I'll tell you what to say." I replied.

"Toothless!" Shadow yelled at Toothless.

"What!?" Toothless yelled.

"He won't answer in dragonese because he knows it's not wise. I know what Taj would say. I will answer your idiotic questions."

"What are they fighting about now?" Astrid asked.

"I don't know." I lied.

"You do. You know exactly what we are saying and you know what we are discussing, don't lie to Hiccup like that." Toothless growled.

"This is getting difficult." Shadow commented. "I want to translate for you, but I know you don't want them to know that you can speak dragonese, and I want to say what you are thinking but I don't want Toothless to get suspicious."

"Well, think of something." I said worriedly.

"I can't." Shadow replied.

"Yes, you can. You're the brains and I'm the brawn." I replied.

"That's not true for a number of reasons." Shadow argued.

"You are the smarted human I know. Find a way out of this." He added.

"You are way, way, way older than me and with age comes knowledge and wisdom." I countered.

"I know but-" Shadow started to say something but I cut him off.

"So think of something and start talking." I retorted.

"Well maybe they are not arguing, maybe they are just talking." I said to Hiccup, Astrid, and Fishlegs. Hiccup shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe." He agreed. Once again Shadow and Toothless then began to argue.

"Have they've ever agreed on anything?" Hiccup asked.

"Nope." I answered. The dragons were always doing one of the two things: arguing or fighting. Hiccup and I sighed and calmly walked over to the quarreling dragons, who were now shooting and outwit each other.

Hiccup stood in front of Toothless and I stood in front of my dragon. I tried to block Toothless from Shadow's view and Hiccup was doing the same. Eventually, the dragons seemed to cease the fire shooting and bickering. Everything was calm, once again.

"I still don't like you." Toothless said as he shot me a distrusting look. "You two are hiding something. I know you are." Toothless walked to Hiccup's side. He looked at us; studied us as if we were some new science experiment.

"Hey Hiccup?" I called.

"Yes?" He answered.

"Doesn't Toothless seem a little tense?" I asked.

"Maybe we should try the dragon nip." Hiccup suggested. I nodded and tossed him the grass.

Later that night.

"So now that we are alone, you can answer that question you were avoiding to answer." Shadow and I were in my room. I was laying in my bed, and Shadow laying on his. There was a knock at the door, before Shadow could say anything.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"It's me, Hiccup." I heard a familiar voice say through the closed doorway.

"Come in". I said sleeply.

"What do you want?" I asked. "I am tired and almost a sleep so make it quick." I demanded.

"What did you whisper in Toothless' ear and why do you avoid certain questions?" Hiccup asked.

"What I said to Toothless is not important." I stated flatly.

"Why do you avoid questions about having to do about you and Shadow?" Hiccup pressed on.

"What is so important, so top secret that you have to hide it from the very people who took you in?" Hiccup stated.

"I can't tell you. I really want to but, truthfully. I can't and I'd have to show you for you to believe it." I replied.

"What is it? Tell me." Hiccup pressed me an answer. I started to answer but then I heard a rustling in the bushes somewhere Hiccup's house.

"Shadow." He raised his head at the sound of his name.

"Please get Astrid for me; she is eavesdropping on our conversation." I said mentally. He nodded and glided out the window with surprising speed. The sudden gust of wind made Hiccup's hair fly in every which way and I felt a chill go down my spine.

Moments later we heard Astrid's voice yelling at Shadow telling him to let her go. Shadow threw Astrid through the window and rolled his eyes then flew through the window. Astrid rolled a few times then stopped in a crouched position.

She had shot me a glance so full of hatred that it made me shiver. Shadow was curled up beside his bed watching her, reading her body language and listening to her heartbeat, making sure she didn't try to attack me. He was ready to pounce if she did.

"Why were you eavesdropping on your conversation?" I asked.

"You are hiding things from us. I wanted to find out what, so I decided to eavesdrop. I heard you talking to Hiccup at the academy saying you would talk to him, when you two were alone. Earlier this week, you heard us sneaking up on you. Nobody should be able to hear that. Nobody but a dragon."

Immediately Hiccup and Astrid looked at Shadow. I had Shadow's full attention, he was looking at expecting me to figure a way out of this predicament. I had shrugged. "You have some explaining to do." Astrid said.

"I know. But it can wait, because I have to go do something important." I replied.

"What are you going to do, try to cause a distraction so you can escape". Astrid asked jokingly.

"I wasn't going to but now I think might add that to my agenda." I smirked and backed into Shadow's massive body. He shut his wings almost immediately. Hiding me from the teens. I dropped a little present for them right before I had Shadow close his massive wings around me.

"What's that?" Astrid asked.

"It looks like some type of container." Hiccup commented with curiosity. I smirked. I invented the canister but never really got to test it; now's the perfect opportunity.

I heard the metal canister being plucked off the ground. "What is this, Taj?" Hiccup asked. He was fascinated by the metal contraption. Shadow had unfolded his wings, I had smirked. Pull the pin and find out. I answered. He looked puzzled and moved the canister, fumbling with it until he found what he was looking for.

It was a metal rod slightly sticking out of the round device. He pulled it. I stepped back into Shadow's wings and waited for the small pop. It happened seconds later, followed by the sound of coughing and dazed teens trying to figure out what happened. The canister was filled with black powder and tightly sealed, so when the pin was pulled the canister explodes from the building pressure and hides me and Shadow in the black, thick and choking smoke that burst from the ruined container.

The room, as expected was blanketed in thick, black smoke. I could see just fine though, unlike Hiccup and Astrid, I can see in the dark, as easily I see in the light. (Thanks to that awesome connection I formed with Shadow) I was running toward the window to jump to safety with Shadow, only to find it blocked by the other night fury, Toothless. He is really starting to get on my nerves. He growled at me and retracted his teeth. They were marble white and as sharp as any sword, probably sharper.

"You're not going anywhere, I will make sure of that!" I rolled my eyes.

"Shadow!" He jumped from somewhere behind me and tackled Toothless. He had put his forelegs and hind legs on Toothless' corresponding leg joints and with his teeth retracted, he bit into Toothless' neck. Toothless kicked and screamed as waves of excruciating pain shot through him. I could tell Toothless was feeling that because I have never heard a night fury hit notes so high and convulse so violently.

"Shadow let's get out of here!" I yelled over the noise. The smoke is clearing. He nodded. I had gotten on the saddle, strapped in and we flew off. We looked back to see that the smoke had fully cleared and two highly confused teens and a blood dripping, ticked off, ashamed looking dragon. Staring at us, either amazed, angry, confused or all three.

Looking back in our general direction as we flew off, invisible in the night sky.


	12. The talk and a secret revealed

Chapter #12: The talk and a secret revealed

I wake up screaming like a scared little girl. Shadow had bolted upright. Standing on all fours. Frightened by my screaming. "Shh, it was only a dream." Shadow tells me. His mental voice is calm and gentle, I stop screaming and take, deep steady breaths. "You can tell me about it, if you like." I nod slowly and show him my dream. After the entire dream was shared. He just sat there looking at each other.

Stoick burst into the room. Axe raised. He was accompanied by Hiccup and Toothless. They looked at me, worried. "What's wrong?" Hiccup asked with concern in his voice. I told them I just a bad dream and that there was nothing to worry about. Stoick nods and heads out the room. Heading back to bed. Toothless snickered. The great and mighty Taj, defeated by his own imagination.

"The ferocious and terrifying Toothless can baffle his foes with his mighty fainting skills." Shadow taunted. "Enough you too or I will chain you two together by the wings." Shadow and Toothless stopped talking and started growling at each other. "Do you want to go back to the pins?" They stopped growing but shot each other hateful glances.

"I know it was more that." Hiccup had said. You woke up screaming. "I'm fine it was just a bad dream, it's really nothing serious." I replied. I looked Hiccup in the eyes, trying to make it seem like I wasn't scared, but to be truthful. I was terrified. He could easily see the terror in my eyes. I could tell this was true because Hiccup told me to relax and take deep breaths. "I already did that." I said with my voice shaking and rattling. "Do it again." Hiccup commanded.

I did as I was told. "Better?" Hiccup asked. I nodded. "How and why do you reprimand our dragons?" He asked. "The dragons may not be able to speak English, but they can definitely understand it." I answered. "I reprimand them because I think it's the right thing to do." The teenage viking nodded. How old are you? Hiccup asked. "Fifteen." I stated.

Hiccup blinked and stumbled backwards. "Fifteen!?" Hiccup was surprised. I nodded slowly. How old are you and the rest of the teens? I asked. "We're all sixteen." I nodded once more. "You know Hiccup,." I started. "Yes?" Hiccup asked. "I wasn't going to say anything about this, but I've had second thoughts." I commented. "Say anything about what?" Hiccup asked. "I'll tell you when the rest of the riders are up." He then asked me about some things that I've been trying to avoid. My authority I have over the dragons and my special abilities. "You are hiding something from me and the rest of Berk? I know you are."

"You avoid certain types of questions. You can do things that are not exactly human then lie about how you can do it." This intrigued me. "How so?" I asked. "You jump from the second floor of this house and land on your feet, unharmed. You can hear things that no one else can, with ease. You can tell the other dragons what to do. Even though they barely even know you. I have never seen the dragons show so much loyalty and respect to anyone. They don't even show that much respect to this riders. I've even seen Hookfang jump to go do something you've asked him to do, and Hookfang is the most stubborn dragon there is."

While Hiccup was talking I would occasionally nod and shake my head. Agree with some of the things he said and deny some. I didn't speak; I just stared, nodded and listened. Hiccup still continued to speak his lecture on the things I can do. "What do you have to say for yourself?" Hiccup demanded. I started to speak. "I am the chief of what is left of the Hairy Heroes tribe. I don't have to explain myself to you." Hiccup thought about my answer for a second. He knew I was right; I was a chief so I can avoid and dodge as many questions as I want. They don't have to know anything about me or my tribe if I didn't want them to. "Wasn't your tribe, killed by Dagur because that's what you told us."

"All but two." I said. "Who are the last survivors of your tribe?" Hiccup asked. I pointed to Shadow and to myself. Hiccup said nothing, he just stared at me for about a minute. Disappointed that he couldn't squeeze the answers out of me. "Good night, Hiccup." I had said and pushed him out the room. Toothless growled. "Don't touch my friend ever again or I will burn you to a smoldering pile of ashes." I lazily snapped my fingers and Shadow pounced on Toothless and pinned him to the floor.I had gone up to Toothless' ear and whispered to him in dragonese.

"What do you think Stormfly would think of you if you did that?" Toothless blushed at the sound of the dragon's name. One of the main reasons that Toothless and Shadow bicker so much, is because they both had a thing for Stormfly. They'll make just about anything and everything into a competition to try and gain the attention of the blue dragon. With that comment said. I had walked back to my bed and climbed in. Shadow make sure Toothless is comfortable, he will be staying here for the night. Shadow agreed reluctantly.

Hiccup was confused. "You just can't tell Toothless what to do." Hiccup said. "Why not?" I do it to all the other dragons, Toothless is not different from the rest." Hiccup stuttered. "B-b-but he is my dragon, not one of your puppets." He stabbed. "Neither are the other dragons. I had to convince them to listen to me and getting them to respect me was a lot harder. I had to talk them into doing everything I've asked them to do. Especially Stormfly. She was the worst. Females are so very stubborn" I commented.

He looked at me with a blank, and soon to be confused stare. "Well, I'm tired and I want to let you think over this conversation, and about what I just revealed to you. Good night, Hiccup." I repeated. Shadow snorted and closed the door with his tail.


	13. Hiccup shows his ugly side and Shadow

Chapter #13: Hiccup shows his ugly side and Shadow get a new toy.

I woke up later than I what I usually would. I looked around the room and found Shadow and Toothless on the sides of my bed. Shadow was on my left and Toothless was to my right. They were still sleeping. I had gotten out of bed and walked over limbs, and tails, and claws, trying not to disturb the resting dragons. When I had finally gotten to the door, I turned the knob and opened the door. I walked down the steps and found Hiccup and Stoick talking in a low whisper.

Although I could hear it perfectly and understand everything they were saying, I pretended not to notice. "Taj is hiding something, I know he is." Hiccup was saying. "I know, but he already closed the discussion. Like it or not, Taj is still a chief as long as one other member of his tribe is still alive." Stoick added. "I've seen him do some amazing things and having extremely keen senses is one of them. Last night's talk proved that." Hiccup commented.

"You're joking right?" Stoick asked. "No. I am not." Hiccup answered with all seriousness. "Oh." Stoick said hopelessly. "Having a nice father, son chat. Huh?" I asked. Hiccup jumped. He didn't notice I was right behind him until now. "I do have exceptional skills, don't I?" I asked with pride seeping in my voice on the last word. "Deception and hiding in the shadows are other skills I had mastered over the years. I can do anything and go everywhere without being seen, or heard unless I want otherwise. I can also jump from unimaginable heights, land on my feet and live. Not to mention my unparalleled sight, smell, and hearing."

They vikings said nothing. They just stared and listened; listened and stared. "Shadow and I are leaving but we will be back." I stated. "Where will you be going?" Stoick asked. "Dragonblood island." I replied. "I will be bringing back some smithing supplies, weapons, books, maps, and whatever else I may find." Both of the vikings nodded.

"Good." Stoick said enthusiastically. "Where is Dragonblood island anyway?" Hiccup asked. I smirked. "You're not going to tell me, are you?" Hiccup stated. "Nope." Toothless came thumping down the steps and growled at me. "I really am going to kill you, just you wait." He threatened. "Why does Toothless seem to hate you and Shadow so much?" Hiccup asked. "I do not know." I said.

"Toothless, no growling at guest while in the house." Stoick bellowed. "Sorry chief." Toothless whined. "Well looks like the big, bad Toothless does have a filter." I taunted. Toothless growled at me. "Now you die, you pathetic, useless, weak, ignorant human." Toothless pounced on me.

Toothless had retracted his teeth and attempted to bite and claw at me. I had taken my index finger and middle finger and pressed it into a soft spot under his chin. "Not today big guy." I had said. As expected the night fury hit the ground, his eyes had then gotten big and glassy. The night fury rolled off of me, unconscious. I had gotten up, wiped the dust off my shoulders and kicked Toothless in his head with all the strength I could muster and then spit on him.

I heard a sickening crack. Toothless' body jerked and his back arched, then he went still. Hiccup has furious. "Why did you kill him!" Hiccup shouted. "I didn't kill him, I broke his skull." I yelled back. "What made you do that!?" Hiccup demanded loudly. "He was going to kill me. Don't you understand that?" I asked. "I don't care! He was my friend."

"Your only friend." I said spitefully. Hiccup then gave me a stare so full of hate that all the heat from my body all seemed to leave at once. I thought about what you said last night. You said that you had to talk to the dragons, convince them to do the things you wanted, you had to talk them into trusting you. "Yeah, and?" I asked Hiccup. "Do you want to know what I think?" Hiccup asked. "Sure, why not. I have nothing else to do." I replied.

"I think you are insane. No one can talk to dragons. Not even you." He spat. "Fine. Say what you want to say about me, and think about what you want to think about me. Truthfully I don't care in the slightest." Hiccup's left eye began to twitch. He gave me an evil smile. I had seen Shadow dive into an unlit part of the kitchen from the corner of my eye. Hiccup was to preoccupied to notice. "Well, I think I better get going. The flight to Dragonblood island will take hours." Stoick nodded. "I agree." Stoick said.

"Oh no. You're not going anywhere." Hiccup said. He then had taken a knife off the table and threw it towards me. Shadow shot two fireballs. One hit the knife while it was flying towards me. The knife fell to the ground three feet from its target. The other fireball had hit Hiccup, sending him flying into the air, knocking him out cold almost immediately.

Stoick had caught Hiccup with his huge and muscular arms before he hit the ground. Stoick was surprised. "Where did the fireballs come from?" Stoick asked. I pointed to a dark and shaded corner in the room. Growling at Toothless' and Hiccup's unconscious bodies was the one, the only Nightshadow. He blinked, then shrugged. "By what time do you think you'll be back?" Stoick asked. I thought for a second before answering. "If I leave now, by noon tomorrow." I said. "Well you better get going." I nodded and thanked the chief. "You did what you had to do. Toothless would have killed you, and so would have Hiccup. I have never seen Hiccup act like that." Stoick continued.

"It surprised us all." I replied. I then had stepped back into the corner and Shadow had closed his wings around me, hiding me, shielding me, protecting me from the new potential enemies I had made. Moments later Shadow had gotten on his hind legs and walked toward Stoick and thanked him in the language I known as dragonese. "Before I forget please have Gobber fix Toothless' skull. He is going to need that." The fellow chief nodded his head.

We ran out the door and flew off and away from the house so fast, the sound barrier was broken from our speedy departure. Looking at Stoick's wonder struck face. I'm guessing he had never seen a night fury stand and walk on its hind legs. Shadow had thrown me high into the air and when I landed. I was was in the saddle.

We flew for what seemed like days, before the faint outline of Dragonblood island came into view. We landed on the rocky shoreline of Dragonblood island and walked into the burned, forgotten village. Shadow and I had ran off in different directions. Going in and out of buildings, and houses, and the smithy collecting anything and everything we thought was useful and loaded it into the black saddle bags.

When we had finished packing everything. We had Checked, doubled checked, and triple checked everything we put into each of the saddle bags. To make sure that's what we wanted to bring. "Should we?" Shadow asked out loud in dragonese. "Should we what?" I replied in dragonese. "Head into the woods." We looked at each other in the eyes and ran full speed. Of course Shadow was faster so he got there way before I did. He had great endurance, so he just stared at, while I panted and sweat dripped off my forehead and drenched my clothes.

"Humans are so lazy." They can't even run a mile under a minute. Shadow said playfully. I rolled my eyes. "Whatever." I spat out between my shallow and ragged breaths. Shadow made weird sound. It sounded like a growl was being chopped by a knife. "Why are you laughing at me?" I panted. "Humans look funny when they are tired. I'm not completely human. You know. You of all...what should I say here? People. No he's not a person. Well not a complete person. Dragon maybe. But then again he is not completely dragon either. Dragon I decided. "You of all dragons should know that." Shadow smirked. Well it looked like a smirk. Can they smirk? Why am I asking myself this again.

"Humans." He repeated and snickered. "Dragons" I snorted. "What's wrong with dragons?" Shadow asked. You think you are so tough, but in reality I could easily stop you." I replied. "I'd like to see you try." Shadow challenged. "I put my hand in the space between his eyes and formed a fist. Shadow had gotten cross-eyed and then he crumpled onto the ground asleep. I poked around. I had built a workshop for Shadow in the woods.

I have built his first class tails here, I had built all of his armor here. (Yes you read that right). Armor. I would let Shadow participate in many of the raids. He would be on the ground of course and with out his false tail, to lighten suspicion. He couldn't be seen anyways, but that doesn't mean he couldn't get hit. The armor plates were midnight black and were attached to his scales. The armor is impenetrable, nothing could hurt him as long as he had the armor on.

I was, and still am impressed by my workmanship. I've built nothing that could compare to the armor. "We're bringing the armor." I yelled. No response. Right he's asleep. I remembered. I had taken the armor and folded it. I stuffed it into an empty saddle bag. Toothless can't get ahold of the armor. Even if he did, he couldn't fit it. Shadow was bigger than Toothless. I walked back to the workshop and grabbed the rest of my tools and gadgets and put them into the saddle bag with the armor.

I looked in the corner of my workshop. It had a project I didn't finish. I promised myself, that I would finish it when I had gotten back, but that was before I knew that my ship would hit a storm and crash on Berk. I took one last look and sighed. I collected the unfinished project that scattered the room and somehow found a way to strap it to the saddle. (It was to big for the saddle bags so I had to improvise).

Shadow would not wake up for the next few hours and even if I wanted to; I had to admit he needed the sleep. (It is a bad no wait, horrible idea to wake up a sleeping dragon.) I had unstrapped the unfinished invention and the blueprints from the saddle and began to work where I left off.

The invention was simple; but it was so big that it would take me hours to finish. The device that I had been working on before I left was now finished. It had taken me a least four hours to complete. I looked at my newly created invention. It was a giant black sword. The sword was so big, it could be used by a dragon. In fact, the sword is for a dragon. It was for Shadow. I had also developed a sheath for the sword so the sword can be protected from the weather if it's not being used.

The sword also has a sash so it can rest on his back when he isn't using it. With a few more hours to make some changes to the color and design. I made Shadow's sword an exact replica of mine, from the black painted diamond blade, to the golden and black painted hilt. I had attached the sash to the sword and put one end of the sash on his left shoulder and the other part of the sash was connected to the bottom right corner of his saddle.

When I had finished and stepped back a few feet to admire my work; Shadow started to wake up.


	14. Shadow and I have a serious talk

Chapter #14: Shadow and I have a serious talk.

"Shadow get up." I was talking in dragonese. "Shadow get up." I repeated. He twitched his tail and lazily raised his giant black scaled head. "What do you want?" Shadow asked in his native language. "I want you to get off your lazy butt and listen. I've been trying to wake you up for the past five minutes." I informed the giant lizard. "I was trying to wake up but I got tired again and went back to sleep." Shadow stated. "How long was I asleep?" He asked.

"You were asleep for about 5 maybe 6 hours." I said. "I see that you finished that last project." Shadow said as he looked a to find a sword by his side. I smiled. "Yep. I finished it." I confirmed. "Want to test it out?" Shadow asked. "You already know the answer." Shadow had stood on his hind legs, drew the sword and took a few practice swings. (When Shadow and I share memories, the first thing we share with each other is our fighting skills.) We spent the next few hours dueling each other. We were equally matched. Neither of us could hit the other.

He would swing for my legs. I would jump and slash at his chest. He would jump backward and try to swing for my head. I would duck and block the strike with my sword. The entire fight went on like this until we were tired. We looked at each other and laughed. "You're just as good as me." I said. "I learned from you." Shadow said. We laughed some more and then we put our swords back into our scabbards. "We have all that we said we would bring, and then some." I stated.

"Want to fly back to Berk?" I asked. "No." Shadow replied. "I don't want to put up with Toothless and Hiccup." He stated flatly. "Neither do I, but we have to because we can't stay." I commented. "How about Valka?" Shadow asked. "Maybe. What if she says no?" I asked. She's your family, she won't say no." Shadow argued. "Even if she did let us stay, we would still need to return the tools to Berk and grab the rest of our stuff." (She lives on an island in the far North. I haven't seen her or talked to her in two years.) Auntie Valka knows about Shadow, but she hasn't seen him.

I know everything about dragons, I learned most of what I know about dragons because of her. She taught me everything she knew. I told her about Shadow and about my experiences with him. (Although I think she doesn't believe me). I could go live with her and the dragons. I thought. Shadow was actually enthusing the idea, he hasn't talked to Cloudjumper in a long time. (Shadow and Cloudjumper are best-friends)

"If we decide to go; you will never see Stormfly again." I stated. (I know that Shadow likes Stormfly and will immediately reject the offer) I waited for his reply. As expected he denied the idea of leaving for the Arctic. All of a sudden I just got this idea. I don't know Shadow's real name and I want to see if he'll tell me. "Hey, Shadow?" I asked. "Yes." He responded. "We're friends right?" I asked. "Yes." He confirmed. "You will answer any questions I ask right, no matter how personal?" I inquired. "Yes." The black dragon replied. "I've given you the name Shadow but I've never actually known your real name.-" He interrupted me. "I know what you are trying to do, Taj." Shadow said. "There's a reason why I haven't told you."

"Let me guess, it would be extremely dangerous and incredibly stupid." I said dully. An amused look melted into Shadow's facial features. "No, it's just because I like Shadow better." Shadow responded. "You're lying, Shadow." I confronted. "No, I'm not." Shadow argued weakly. "Your heart sped up and your emotions changed from amusement to worried. Why don't you want me to know your real name?" I asked. "It's not that I don't want you to know it's just that dragons don't just give out their real names, or as we call them. True names." He said ominously. What's a true name and how is any different from a regular name?" I asked suddenly interested by the topic at hand. "If someone were to say a dragon's true name, they would get a complete understanding of that particular dragon."

"Dragons would want to hide this information because...?" I asked. "They would want to hide it because if someone were to say it they would know literally everything about that particular dragon. They would know their age. They would know all of their weaknesses. All of their strengths. All of their secrets. The list could go on and on forever." Shadow ended his answer with an unhappy and apologetic look.

After listening to Shadow's answer, I wasn't so sure I wanted to know his true name anymore. Because if there's one thing I know, it's that everyone has secrets. If these secrets were to be revealed it could possibly lead to that person's death or the death of their loved ones. (Trust me I know.) I accidentally let it slip, once that I had Shadow as a pet. (It's a long story and I'll tell you about it later. If I ever get around to it.) Anyway. The secret had gotten spread around Dragonblood and the villagers months trying to find him. Somehow Dagur the Deranged had gotten wind of the situation and somehow figured out where my island was located.

He then invaded my island in an attempt to get his hands on my dragon. Killing my entire island in a failed attempt to try to kill Shadow. I sighed unhappy that he doesn't trust me well enough. "Shadow. Why don't you trust me?" I asked. "I trust you Taj, I trust you more than anybody else on the planet." Shadow said. "I mean, why don't you trust me with your true name." I restated my question. "It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I don't think I'm ready to tell you. It's a whole lot more serious than you realize." I then felt bad about asking. "Sorry, Shadow. It's just that I didn't realize how serious your real name really is." I apologized.

Shadow sighed. "There's no need to apologize. Taj. You did nothing wrong. You're just curious." I nodded. "What to go back to Berk now? It's getting late." I said changing the subject as I looked over Shadow's shoulder to see the sun sinking into the golden horizon. It cast a golden glow over the trees and wildlife in the forest. "How about if we stayed here for the night and fly off tomorrow. I'm sure that Stoick and Hiccup will understand." Shadow nodded.

Moments later I was curled up in Shadow's wings. The massive wings blocked all the light from view and easily hid my dark bronze colored skin. "Good night, Shadow." I said mentally. "Good night,Taj." Shadow replied. I closed my dark brown eyes and let my drowsiness take me. I had fallen asleep.


	15. The Training Session

Chapter #15: The training session.

I groaned and rubbed my eyes. "What time is it, Shadow?" I asked groggily. I expected a response but I didn't get one. I got on my hands and knees and pushed off the ground. Where is Shadow? I asked myself. He couldn't have gotten far, he doesn't have his automatic tail. Shadow! I yelled mentally. "You're awake." Shadow said.

"Where are you?" I asked slightly annoyed. "I'm out practicing with my new sword." Said Shadow. I rolled my eyes and smiled. "Reptiles and swords, what a great combination." I said jokingly. "Hey, you made the sword. Not me." Shadow stated. "And the scabbard." I added. "And the scabbard." Shadow agreed. "Want to run back and help hunt for breakfast?" I asked. "I already killed our breakfast." Shadow responded. "What is it?" I asked. "Your favorite, deer." Shadow said.

Shadow and I are not a picky eaters. We'll eat anything and everything we defines as edible. Shadow and I both can agree deer is the best thing we've ever eaten. "Now I that know what it is, where is it?" I asked. "Look to your left."

"What did I say about looking through my eyes." I said to Shadow. (Shadow and I can interact with each other's bodies, all we have to do is concentrate.) "And what did I say about going through my dreams?" He shot back. I remained silent after the comment was made. The deer carcass was in the middle of the blazing of a blazing hot fire that was shaped like a circle. "What's with the fire, Shadow?" I asked. "To keep unwanted animals off my kill." Shadow replied.

"I can't get to it without being burned. I'm human remember. Humans have skin, which means we're not fireproof." I said. "Figure it out, I'm busy." I rolled my eyes. Useless, lazy, overgrown Lizard. I mumbled as I began to walk down to the nearby stream. If I remember correctly, there should be a bucket, down on the edge of the stream. When I had arrived at the stream, I looked and found the bucket. It was where I had last set it, a hole in a nearby tree trunk.

I collected the bucket and filled it with the crisp, clean, water. I took a quick look at my reflection. The water was clear and colorless, but distorted my image nonetheless. I had gotten stronger, and taller since the last time I was here. I smiled at my reflection and walked the bucket of water back to the fire, where my future breakfast was kept.

I ate in silence, watching Shadow dodge and slash at imaginary enemies in the distance. His posture and stances were flawless. He swung his sword with ease. The body of the carcass was already eaten by Shadow. The legs and ribs were left. The sword was moving so fast I could barely process what I was seeing. (Shadow and I have shared our fighting styles with each other.) I know his moves and he knows mine. I can fight like a night fury and regular human being, the same goes with Shadow. I had taken the last leg from the deer and roasted it in a small little square of fire I let live. I watched Shadow as I was waiting for the food to cook.

"He's good." I said to myself. "Really good." (Thanks to my ingenious teachings.) When I had finished the last of the meal, I had told Shadow that it was time to go back to Berk. He nodded and placed his sword back into the scabbard and swung it around his shoulder and securing it to his saddle and around his back. Shadow had ran toward me and burned the deer carcass to ashes. (Shadow hates it when animals or anything else touches his kills.) Even if, he's done eating. He allows me to though.

Shadow gets on all fours and let's me get on the saddle and we fly off to Berk. The flight back to Berk feels like it's taken months to complete. When it actually only taken six hours. We land in the academy around noon. All of the teens are there. Including Hiccup. He shot me a threatening look. The rest of the teens slowly backed away from Hiccup. "You hurt Toothless." Hiccup said. The other teens had shot scared, and amused glances at me. I had gotten off Shadow and walked toward Hiccup. "I had to, he was going to kill me." The rest of the teens just stared. Watching. Not wanting to move. Not wanting to breath. "That doesn't mean you break his skull!" Hiccup bellowed.

"You're lucky that's all I did. I could've taken my arms and wrap it around his head, snapping his neck like a blade of grass. I could've taken my sword and slit his throat or behead him. I could've let Shadow deal with him. Shadow would've done worse, but I didn't do any of that. I let him live. I could've killed you. I could've let Shadow burn you to a pile of ashes. I could've, but I didn't. I let you both live." Hiccup said nothing. He knew what I said was true. I looked around until I found Gustav. He was talking to Astrid and Fishlegs, well trying to.

The teens were too engrossed on me and Hiccup's little chat to pay Gustav any attention. "If he was going to kill you, why didn't you stop him?" Hiccup demanded. "I did. I knocked him out and broke that thick skull of his." I answered. "You didn't have to break his skull!" Hiccup yelled. "I wanted to kill him. I really did. You don't understand, Hiccup. I was seriously going to kill him."

"What stopped you?" He quipped. "If you were so adamant on killing him, why didn't you?!" Hiccup demanded. "Do you want me to kill him? I will march up the house and kill him, if you want me to." I suggested. "What! No, I don't want you to kill him, I just want to know why you didn't." He clarified. "You, Hiccup. You stopped me from killing him. You've would've been devastated. You've would've killed me. You would probably be banished from the hairy hooligans. You would live the rest of your life as an outcast. If it wasn't for me."

Hiccup was once again, speechless. I turned away from Hiccup and walked toward Gustav. He was waiting for me, Fanghook at his side. "Should we continue where we left off last?" I asked. He shook his head. "I want to start something new." Gustav said. "Very, well." I answered as I nodded my head. "Shadow." I called. He walked over to me to my left. "Fanghook." I called. Gustav's dragon walked to my right. Gustav and I were across from each other. I drew my sword and stood in an attack stance. "Gustav grab a sword and stand in the same stance."

He did as he was told. "Spread your feet out more and make sure your shoulders are even with the ground." I instructed. I walked over to Shadow and unbuckled his saddle. Luckily, Shadow's sword had hit the ground first. Hiding it from view. "Now try to block my strikes." I commanded. Gustav nodded uneasily.

I swung for his hip. He blocked it with some difficulty. Shadow could you teach Fanghook something useful? I asked. He nodded and began instructing the dragon. "Again." I demanded. I swung for the opposite side of his hip. I had hit skin, not metal. There was a cut small on his hip. "I wasn't ready for that." Gustav said. "Stop whining and pay attention." I snapped. He nods his head and goes back to the battle ready stance, I taught him. "Your enemies will not stop, they will not show mercy. They will not hesitate to kill you." Gustav gulped.

"I am attempting to teach you how to win in any fight. No matter how big, strong, or skilled your opponents are they all have one thing in common: weaknesses." Gustav nodded his head. "If you can find the weaknesses of your opponent or opponents. You can figure out ways to defeat them. For example-" I walked over to Snoutloud and Hookfang. Snoutloud is self-centered and thinks he can do anything. "Hey." Snoutloud proclaims. "It's true, I argued back."

"Snoutloud looks to the other teens for support." They slowly nod their heads, agreeing with me. "Hookfang is loyal to Snoutloud. Even though he doesn't like being bossed around too much, or how you tell him to do things." I walk over to Astrid and Stormfly and continued to talk. "Astrid seems to take interest in Hiccup and his dragon skills." Astrid shot me an annoyed look but amused look. "If I put Hiccup in enough danger, I can get to control Astrid as well."

"Stormfly is a different matter though. Stormfly is loyal to the dragons and Astrid. If I were to put Astrid in a life-or-death situation for an example a kidnapping or a sword to her throat. Stormfly would try to fight, but if she loses she will back down and listen to my commands. If she deems them reasonable and if it could free Astrid." I stopped talking as I paced around in a circle. "The same goes for Toothless and Hiccup. Although Toothless would rather fight until he is incapable of fighting any longer."

"How do you know all of this?" Astrid demanded. "I study the behavior between the dragons and riders." I replied. "Another thing about you Astrid is that you're short tempered. You won't stay mad at me for too long." She shot me a hard glare. "The point is Gustav; if you study your opponent's movements, their body language, and figure out how to use it to your advantage, they won't last too long in battle." He nods his head.

I looked over at Fanghook and Shadow. They just finished their lesson. One more time, then we're done here. I told Gustav. He had gotten back into the fitting stance and tried to go for my arm. I parried his attack. Gustav's sword had connected with mine. We sat there trying to push each other's swords against the other. Gustav jumped back and slashed at my legs drawing blood. I fell to my knees and grunted. "Nice attack." I commented through the pain. Gustav stepped forward with his sword free hand outstretched.

I grabbed his wrist and lifted his small body into the air. Gustav landed on his back with a soft the air out of his lungs. I immediately stood back up and put my sword to his throat. "Nice attack, but follow through with it next time, when you're fighting an opponent, you need to expect the unexpected." He hastily nodded his head multiple times.

"Class dismissed." I said and put my sword back into the scabbard. I offered Gustav my hand. He took gladly and pulled himself up. Later that day, Shadow had gotten tired of carrying the extra weight of his saddle so we ran off to find Stock and given him the supplies. He thanked us for our help and sent us on our way.


	16. Yesterday is still freaking me out

Chapter #16: Yesterday is still freaking me out.

The past few weeks have flown by pretty fast. Hiccup and I argue here and there. I visit Toothless and apologize for my actions and talk to him about my time on Dragonblood island. Toothless is a very good listener and he occasionally would ask questions here and there. I tried to answer all of them truthfully and thoroughly. Hiccup would sometimes walk up to the door to try and listen in. Shadow would tell me and I would stop talking just at the right moment and wait for him to leave before continuing with what I was saying.

I am currently in my room thinking over the all the events that had taken place and getting dressed. I had just gotten up from my sleep. Everyday seemed to be the same, Shadow would go one way and try to stop the dragon's arguments and fights, and I would go the other and work with Hiccup and Gobber in the smithy. Yesterday was different from the rest though. I keep replaying yesterday's extraordinary events in my head.

I tried to apologize and start small talk. As I always did everyday for the past few weeks. None of my attempts were successful. Hiccup either shot me evil looks and ignored me or tried to make me feel guilty for hitting Toothless. "You can't make me feel guilty for hurting Toothless." I told Hiccup, when we were making swords for the other Vikings yesterday. "Why can't I?" Hiccup asked. "Have you killed so many dragons that you no longer care about them or have you forgotten that they are intelligent beings entirely?" Hiccup asked me with a hatred that seemed to grow with every word he spoke.

"No, I am not a ruthless killer." I shot back. "Hey stop fighting you two." Gobber yelled over the noise of the smithy. "If you don't want to lose your other hand, I suggest you shut your mouth and keep it that way!" I snapped at Gobber.

"Is that a threat?!" Gobber demanded. "No. It's a promise." I heard Shadow charging a shot immediately after I had said that. (Shadow was behind me, he was standing on all fours blocking the only door that led out of the smithy.)

Hiccup shivered and backed away from me, frightened. Gobber was speechless, he was to stunned to say anything. Shadow snapped his mouth shut, ending the charge. "As I was saying. I'm not a ruthless killer." I relaxed and spoke calmly. "I have morals. I will kill if it is required or if Shadow is harmed. If I think that the threat is not that serious, I will think of a way to punish them otherwise. "

"What about Stormfly and Toothless!?" Hiccup demanded. "I thought they were just trying to protect their riders, so I thought of other ways to punish them." I said. "So letting your dragon beat Stormfly into a crippled pulp or breaking Toothless' skull was a reasonable punishment!?" Hiccup yelled. "Yes, it was. Stormfly nearly killed me. If I wouldn't have done something Toothless would have killed me as well." I snapped back.

"Why do you that every dragon you come in contact wants to kill you!?" Hiccup demanded. "I don't think every dragon wants to kill me, only certain ones." I retorted. "You're crazy." Hiccup said sternly. "I am not crazy. I've done some very stupid things in my life, but I'm not crazy." I argued back. Hiccup looked at Gobber wanting him to say something. I shot Gobber a threatening stare and made a cutting motion with my hands. Gobber had just clutched his good hand and tried to hide it from view and shrugged his shoulders.

"You are crazy." Hiccup persisted. "You jump from buildings and wrestle with night furies." chuckled. "Just like I said before, I've done some very stupid things but I'm not crazy. I can wrestle with night fury because I know how they think. I know how they fight and I know how they're going to react to certain environments and situations." I replied. "How do you know so much about dragons, people's emotions and fears, and just about everything else that has to do with life?" Hiccup asked. "I study and do research on pretty much everything." I answered.

"That's it. You are crazy. No, not even that. You're insane." Hiccup snapped. "I am not crazy or insane. You just don't understand what I've been through. You just don't know anything about me." I answered. "You know what. You're absolutely right". Hiccup stated. "I'm sorry." Hiccup apologized. I nodded my head. "I want to know why you can do the amazing and impossible things, I've seen you do." Hiccup said. "I can't tell you." I said flatly. "I know." Hiccup said bitterly.

"Hey. There's no need to get angry at me for not telling you something that you don't need to know." I said. "You just said you would tell me but now you won't." Hiccup commented. "I didn't say that, that's what you wanted to hear, but I didn't breathe a word of it." I responded. "Tell me!" Hiccup demanded. "No!" I yelled back. By the gods, you're so annoying." I shouted at Hiccup.

"I don't like the fact that you're hiding things from me." Hiccup said. "Does it look like I care? No. Ok then. Stop pestering me about something I won't tell you." I snapped at Hiccup. "Tell me!" Hiccup demanded again. "I said no!" I bellowed. I was furious. I felt a surge of power, limitless raw power. I felt like I could do anything, but right now I all really wanted to punch the daylights out of this kid.

I knew that I couldn't do that to Hiccup. Hiccup is very small and scrawny. I could easily kill him. So I did the only thing I could to try and abate my anger. I threw my sword. My sword had went flying blade first toward Hiccup's soft and penetrable skull. Hiccup ducked at the last second. The sword had hit the cobblestone wall that was behind him and exploded into millions of pieces of metal and debris. All three of us were surprised. When the blade hit the wall, it didn't just break. The sword had also cracked the stone brick in half.

I was surprised but still angry. I walked past the awe struck dragon who was blocking the door and stormed out of the smithy. I sat in my room thinking about how was that was even possible. For starters. I'm not that strong. I can do tons of stuff, but I know my limits. What I did yesterday with that sword was way over my limits. I know that I'm not completely human. I have uncanny hearing and survival instincts. I can jump from unimaginable heights and land unharmed. I can even talk to dragons and interact with any one of them as if I was one. Just like a night fury, just like Shadow.

I can do many things, but breaking a cobblestone with a sword is not on the list. I shook my head and rested my hand on my temples. "What am I?" I asked myself. Am I human? Am I a night fury? A mix of both?

A fierce and fearless Viking chief? What am I? I started to get angry and flustered. I had gotten up from my bed which I was sitting on and punched one of the four stone walls that made up my room. He shockwave of the punch echoed all throughout the house. I heard a sickening crack as my knuckles and fingers broke. I screamed in pain and spat out curse words and stomped around my room. I had gotten angry at myself for screaming so loud and waking up the resting Vikings. Who were now crowded by my door.

I looked looked at the spot where I had punched the wall. The cobblestone brick was no more. A pile of small chunks of stone and dust had taken its place. I yelled and punched another stone with my good hand. The brick had exploded into a pile of rubble and dust. There was another crack and I screamed once more. I fell to the ground in a heap of skin and clothes. I put my head in my broken, mangled and bloodied hands and started to cry.


	17. I finally tell the teens something impor

Chapter #17: I finally tell the teens something important

I heard Shadow screaming down stairs. He'd probably picked the lock and let himself out. I was going to get up but I was sitting cross legged and I didn't want to use my hands. "Can you help me get up?" I asked Hiccup. Hiccup looked at me. He saw what I did yesterday at the smithy. He was there, he had also seen what I just did in my room. He knows why my hands, knuckles and possibly my wrists are broken.

"Sure" Hiccup said with his voice shaking from fear. Gobber spent the next three hours slowly putting each bone back where they belonged and mending them in the process. It felt horrible. Shadow was in the next room screaming. (He can feel my pain and I can feel his.) When he finished with my relocating the last finger and bandaged my hands he sent me on my way.

He told me that both of my knuckles were broken, and both of my wrists, and all ten of my fingers. (Just as I thought this morning.) "I hate being right all of the time." I mumbled under my breath. The teens had ran up to me with their dragons walking behind them. "How did it feel?" The teens asked. "Horrible." I replied. "I've broken my legs, neck, and spine before, but Thor that was the most painful thing I've ever had to go through." I said. "What do you mean that was the most painful thing you've been through?" Astrid asked. "You said you've broken bones before."

"I know. I had fallen unconscious when I broke them so I didn't feel any pain." "I mean I felt it afterward when I tried to get up but I didn't get to experience the bones actually being put back in place." I said. "Oh" Astrid said as she cringed. "So what do you guys want to do?" I asked. "You're serious right?" Hiccup asked. "Yes, I'm serious" I replied. "You can't use your hands. Or your wrists." Astrid added. "Or your fingers" Ruffnut added. "I haven't told you guys everything about me." I said. "We basically don't know anything about you." Hiccup said. "I know."

"I have told Hiccup two thing I haven't told you guys." I told the teens. "Really?" Astrid said. "What is it?" Astrid asked Hiccup. "A few nights ago he told me his age and that same night he told me something else that I can't really figure out. I'm still thinking it over." Hiccup spent the next few minutes recounting the talk I had with him in my room. "You're fifteen!" All the teens shouted in unison. "Yes, it's so shocking isn't it. I'm two years younger than all of you, but I know more than all of you combined." I said. "What about the other thing about convincing the dragons to do the things he wants?" Astrid asked.

"I don't know, I'm still thinking that over." Hiccup told Astrid. I smirked. "Don't do it, Taj." Shadow warned me mentally. He already knew what I was thinking. I decided not to, Shadow was right. I shouldn't, I mean look at them. They want to know everything about me but they don't know anything. They constantly press me to tell them things, especially Hiccup. Personally, I decided that I like all of the attention.

I walked over to Shadow and yelled to get the other riders attention. They all looked over and stared at me, wanting to know why I had distracted them. Shadow picked me up by the collar of my shirt and threw me into the air.

I landed into the saddle and used my elbows and knees to strap myself into the saddle. (Extremely difficult by the way.) Nonetheless, I succeed. "Want to fly around Berk and talk for a bit?" I asked. The teens all nodded their heads. All except Hiccup. "What about me, I don't have Toothless." I yelled Toothless' name and a few minutes later Toothless was by Hiccup's side. "How are you feeling?" I asked Toothless in English. Toothless smiled at me and Shadow. We smiled back. "So I guessed my treatment worked find then?" I asked Toothless. Toothless purred in response to my question. "Shadow can you translate that for me?" Shadow nodded his head twice. "What does that mean, and what did you do to Toothless?"

"Shadow nodded his head the first time to tell me he would translate. He nodded his head the second time to tell me that Toothless said that the treatment did work and that he is as healthy as he was before." I said. What did you do to him though?" Hiccup asked. I talked to Toothless. "I told him about my time on Dragonblood island and also tried to help Toothless with a problem he's been having."

"How does talking to him help with healing a broken skull?" Hiccup asked. It passes the time. I responded. Hiccup shot a confused stare at me. "What problems has he been going through?" Hiccup asked concerned. "He can't seem remember anything before finding you. (The last part was a lie.) Toothless worked for the red death before his time with Hiccup. He doesn't remember anything before that.

"You can talk to Toothless!?" Fishlegs said excitedly. Hiccup seemed to realize what had just happened. "Wait, you can?" Hiccup asked. I cursed and jumped into Shadow's large form. Shadow stood on his hind legs and his me in his wings. I closed my eyes on concentrated on Shadow's eyes. When I opened them, I wasn't looking at Shadow's dark and light concealing wings. I was staring at the teens and the dragons, I was looking through Shadow's eyes.

It was weird. I know that my eyes were still closed and when I opened them I would be staring into darkness. I knew who's eyes I was looking through because it's the only other set of eyes I have. Everything looked the same as it did before I left, but I could see more. I could see every little detail that my eyes were not accustomed to. I could see every hair on Hiccup's head and I could have counted them if I wanted to. I didn't. It would've be weird. Anyway, Hiccup was trying to walk up to Shadow's wings and get my attention. Shadow growled.

"That's not a good idea, you made Taj uncomfortable. He wants to be left alone for a minute to relax." Shadow said. Hiccup still advanced forward, he was slower than he was at first. He still was getting closer, nonetheless. "I said, do not get any closer." Shadow growled once more. Hiccup still was trying to get closer. Hiccup had slowed down some more, he was trying to be more cautious than he already was. He was about two feet away from Shadow's folded wings, he had his arms outstretched. Shadow growled for a third and last time.

"Get away from me or I will turn you into a smoldering pile of ashes." This growl was different from the rest. It was deeper, more threatening, and sent chills down my spine. Hiccup yelped and jumped away from Shadow and ran behind Toothless' large body. I opened my eyes and was almost immediately engulfed in the darkness of Shadow's closed wings. "Shadow can you let me out?" I asked mentally. Shadow opened his left wing and his right shortly after.

It took me a second to adjust to the bright light of the outside world. When I did I walked up to Toothless to try to get to Hiccup. Toothless growled. "Don't get too close to me or I will...I will..." "I will stutter" Shadow said, cutting Toothless off.

I looked at Shadow and he made short and small throated growls that I came to recognize over the years as the laughter of a night fury. "Is Shadow laughing?" Astrid asked amused and curious. "Yes." I said trying to choke back a laugh. (That joke was pretty funny.) I wiped a tear from my eye and gotten a hold of myself. Hiccup stepped out from behind Toothless and asked me something that ruined my good mood. "Can you really talk to dragons?" I looked the small and skinny Viking in the eyes. "Yes. I can talk to dragons. The language is called Dragonese." Hiccup looked at the other teens. They all exchanged surprised looks.

"Prove it." Snoutloud demanded. "Shadow I think I found your dead brother and Toothless I think I just figured out your past." I said in dragonese so that everyone could hear. Shadow and Toothless looked at each other and hit the ground unconscious. Hiccup looked at me shocked. (Ah, I love it when he looks at me like that. He is so clueless. Just the way I like it.) "What did you tell him now?" Hiccup said annoyed.


	18. I talk with Stormfly and she gets a litt

Chapter #18: I talk to Stormfly and she gets a little protective.

"What did you do?" Hiccup asked again. "I told them something." I replied. "What did you tell them?" Hiccup asked. "I would love to tell you because you're curious and I love curiosity, but unfortunately. I can't tell you." I replied. "You're impossible." Hiccup stated. "I know." I answered agreeing to His statement. Hiccup rolled his eyes and went off to grab buckets of water and dragon nip. Just like he had done he last time when his dragon fainted.

He dropped the supplies at my feet. "Thanks." I replied. I walked over to Shadow and rummaged through the saddle bags. "What are you looking for?" Astrid asks. "An invention I made two years ago." I said. I found it and slipped it on my hands. They were metal gloves that had golden chainmail interlocking at palm and fingers on the outside of the glove. "What is it?" Fishlegs asked.

"Fire proof gloves." I answered. "I have boots of the same design too" I dug through the saddle and slipped those on as well. The chain mail link was on the bottom of the shoe instead. My hands throbbed inside the gloves. They were still healing. I had taken the buckets with my gloved hands and thrown the contents into the night fury's faces. They had jolted upwards almost immediately and tackled each other.

"Get off him!" I yelled. Toothless was clawing and biting at Shadow's neck and face. I felt everything and it didn't feel to good. Shadow was dodging all of the attacks he could and hitting Toothless as well. I had climbed on top of Toothless' back. (He was on top of Shadow.) Toothless was winning the fight and I was feeling a lot of pain. "Get off me you insignificant hatchling!" Toothless yelled as he squirmed trying to throw me off. I wrapped my arms around Toothless' neck and locked my hard in my elbow putting him in a headlock and choking him.

Toothless soon starts to gasp. He was losing breath and his eyes were dilating. "Can a hatchling do this!" I yelled angrily. The teens were awestruck. I was literally choking a night fury with my bare hands. The other dragons just sat back watching. They were amused by my strength and also too scared by it to do anything to help their friend. Toothless had taken one of his claws and flicked me off him as if I were some annoying pest.

I flew through the air and was caught by Stormfly. "Thanks." I said in dragonese. "No problem." The female dragon responded. She had wrapped me in her wings as she sat down sat down providing protection from the fighting dragons. Astrid looked at Stormfly cuddled around me. She was shocked and slightly jealous. When Toothless flicked me it gave Shadow and opening and enough time for a counter attack. He had wiggled out of Toothless' hold and kicked him in the face. Toothless whipped his head back towards Shadow and growled some things that I will not be translating.

All I will say is that Toothless deserved soap in his mouth for some of the comments made about Shadow and me. I looked at Stormfly with a shocked glare in my eyes. "Is he really that offensive and inappropriate?" I asked Stormfly in English. "No." She replied. "I like it, it gives me an excuse to kick him in the mouth later." Stormfly said. "Ooh, feisty and beautiful, the perfect combination." I said in dragonese, finishing off my statement with a smirk.

Stormfly looked at me surprised I just said that. I just grinned and winked. (What is wrong with me, I'm a human being. Not a dragon.) I thought to myself. Stormfly smirked."You naughty little boy."I chuckled mischievously. (Stop it!) I chided myself in my head. The other dragons including Toothless and Shadow stopped what they were doing and looked at me surprised. All of the watching dragons had something in common for once. They were all jealous. I could feel a grin forming on my face. I waved dismissively at them.

The other dragons (besides Shadow and Meatlug) growled threats and charged at me. Stormfly had wrapped her wings around me protecting me from the hostile dragons and growled at them in return. She called them immature hatchlings and kicked dirt and dust into their eyes. Shadow just watched as all the other dragons were being told off by Stormfly. (Female dragons are extremely protective.) I had asked Stormfly to open her wings so I could get out. She declined my request calling it a stupid and irrational decision.

"Are you protecting me?" I asked. "Yes." She replied. "Why do you think you need to?" I asked. "You're not as strong as the rest of us, it could get you killed and I will NOT have that." (Looks like Stormfly is a extremely protective.) I thought to myself. (I've only seen females that protective when they are defending their hatchlings). I tried to fight off a smile. Stormfly is treating me as if I was her child. Perfect. "Taj, tell her you want to get out. I need you're help." I heard Shadow tell me mentally. "I already tried that, she isn't listening to me. She is kind of treating me like a defenseless hatchling. I like it."

"Well, tell you're not and that you can take care of yourself." Shadow said. "I don't want to do that, because right now I need her protection. Toothless will tear me to pieces and we both want that to be avoided." I said. Shadow thought about my response for a second. "I know you're enjoying this. I can feel your pleasure." Shadow said. "Wouldn't it be just terrible if someone were to knock out these other dragons and end her need to protect someone so young and defenseless." Shadow said with a false pity in his voice. "You wouldn't." I said with a false confidence. Stormfly had just kicked Hookfang in the face causing him to go flying backward and smash his head into the wall.

Hookfang had gotten up dazed and dizzily stumbled with no apparent sense of direction. Shadow pounced on Barf and Belch and knocked their heads together knocking them out. Meatlug flew to her rider's side to avoid being targeted. She was smart enough to know not to get in between a ticked off night fury and a protective mother's children. Toothless was the only one still willing to fight. Shadow and Stormfly growled at Toothless warning him to back off.

He defies their merciful chance to escape being pommeled. Shadow and Stormfly looked at each other, nodded and pounced on Toothless. They both landed on his scaled body and clawed, bit and kicked him relentlessly. His screams were so loud it felt like my ears would explode. I cupped my hands to my ears in a failed attempt to block out the noise.

Shadow and Stormfly have decided they had enough hands jumped off Toothless' beaten form. His eyes were puffy and swollen, he had multiple gashes in his lips and blood trickled down his forehead. Stormfly had opened her wings and let me out. I was unharmed but a little shaken up by what I had just witnessed.

I could feel the tension in the air. You couldn't cut it with a knife. I looked back at the teens. Nobody moved. Nobody even breathed. Each one of the teens were too shocked by what had just occurred to do anything. Their brains were trying to process everything. I couldn't process it all. We all had shocked looks on our faces. Five long minutes had passed. Probably the longest three hundred seconds I've ever had.

Hiccup and I looked to survey the academy. Shadow, Stormfly and Meatlug were the only conscious dragons in the academy. All the others were unconscious or too beaten up to move. "Fishlegs." Hiccup said. "Yes, Hiccup." The chubby viking replied. "Make sure to write down that female dragons are not to be underestimated and will become very violent if necessary." Fishlegs nodded slowly and backed away from Meatlug.

"Hey, um Hiccup." I said. "Yes." Hiccup said. "I think you should avoid Toothless for a day or two. Just until things simmer down." Hiccup didn't object the offer. "And Stormfly." I added. Astrid and Hiccup nodded.


	19. Transformation Tuesday

Chapter #19:Transformation Tuesday.

The past month had gone by pretty fast. Toothless and Shadow argue here and there and which Stormfly, Hiccup and I have to work together to stop. I train Gustav about dragon riding and saddle making. Shadow and I talk spend our nights talking and picking with each other. I am currently in my room messing with the bandages that my hands are wrapped up in. I hands don't really hurt as bad as they used too. I would start using my hands more often. Picking things up and grabbing things.

I'm even considering going back to the smithy. Ever since I had broken my hands, I have been brainstorming new ideas for inventions that I might want to try and build. I find a seam in the bandages and I started to pick at them. Eventually my skin started to appear and less and less bandages covered my hands. Soon both of my hands were in full view and the bandages that once covered them was now a pile of bloody cloth on the floor.

I gasped in surprise, not only were my hands fully recovered but they were now covered in the black scales of a night fury. I stared at my palms, fingers, and wrists in awe. I started to piece two and two together. My hands throbbed in the fire proof gloves because the scales were starting to form over my hands and fingers.

My hands hurt less and less everyday because the scales were forming on top of them. Stormfly was so protective over me because she could probably sense my changes. My hands, wrists, knuckles, and fingers no longer hurt. They no longer stung. They were no longer completely human. I was flirting with Stormfly because my dragon half was becoming more prominent. I suddenly felt the urge to punch something. I looked at my room. The stone bricks that I had destroyed were now replaced with fresh ones. I turned and put my hand on the wall.

It didn't feel any different. It still felt like my hands were covered in skin, but they weren't. I smirked and punched the wall. I didn't feel any pain. I felt the impact of my hands meeting the back at high speed but there was no pain as there was there before. There was no sickening crack of bones. Only the crackle and crumble of demolished brick and a small explosion that followed.

Shadow jolted upwards and tackled me And growled in my face. "Who are you and why do you think you can disturb my sleep." Shadow quickly realized it was me. He stopped in mid-growl. "Taj, What are you doing up?" Shadow asked as he climbed off me. I didn't say anything but I moved my hands closer my face.

Shadow blinked in shock. He was getting ready to hit the floor and wake up the other Vikings. I did a Somersault and landed behind Shadow and caught him just before he hit the ground. He shook his head furiously trying to get over the overall shock he was feeling. "Did you just do a Summersault?" Shadow asked. I then realized I just did. I nodded my head slowly. "Cool what else can you do?" Shadow asked. "Want to find out?" I asked. Shadow nodded his head excitedly.

I could feel all of the power rushing to my head. It felt great. I felt as if I could do anything and everything. I felt powerful, I felt mighty, I felt strong, I felt reckless. Then the door was burst open and Stoick, Hiccup, and Toothless strode into the room.

Shadow quickly pounced on me and folded his wings over his back so they couldn't see me. I closed my eyes and concentrated. When I opened them I was once more looking through Shadow's point-of-view. "Taj, come on out it's us. Hiccup, Stoick, and Toothless." Hiccup was saying. I had just realized that my hearing and sight had dramatically improved. I can see better in dark rooms. I can see everything as if it was in a well-lit room but I could still easily tell it was dark.

I could see every scale and skin like fibers that made up Shadow's wings with ease. I could hear every breath being slowly being inhaled and exhaled. I could smell Hiccup's breath as if he was breathing in my face. It smells like a weird combination of peppermint, rotten fish and moldy bread. I gagged and puked in my mouth.

Shadow growled. "Puke on me and I will make you wish I could kill you." Shadow threatened. I sniffed the air once more. I could not only smell everybody's breath, sweat, and armpit but I smelled something else as well. It was weird. I don't really know how to describe this new scent. All I can say is that it smells, different. I could tell Shadow was using my senses because he told me something using his mind.

"That is the smell of a human." He also asked me a question, well it was more of a statement. "Isn't the smell of a human,seem weird to you?" I nodded my head. "Yeah, yeah it does." I replied. I could already identify the other scents as well. One was Shadow. His scent was the biggest. (Probably because he on top of me.)

Shadow's scent smelled like a nice, warm, comforting camp fire. The last one was Toothless. He smelled like a rock that has been melted and is starting to cool and then there was the weird indescribable smell of human mixed into it. I was so transfixed by all of the new sights, sounds, and smells that I didn't realize Hiccup calling my name. "Yes." I called back. I gasped. It was more of a growl/purr than a voice. "What are you doing with your voice and come on out, you're starting to worry me with all of the hiding."

"He can't see me like this." I thought to myself. "He would freak. I don't look like a human being. I'm not a human being anymore. I'm somewhere in between. If I could just look human just this once." I then had gotten an idea. I didn't think it would work, but hey until a month ago, I didn't know I could choke a dragon. I concentrated. "Be human!" I commanded my body. It listened. I could feel the scales that covered my hands, wrist, and knuckles disappear.

A few moments later I had Shadow get off me and I stood straight up. I looked at and around my hands. No scales! It worked. I thought to myself triumphantly. "Your hands are perfectly healed." Hiccup said surprised. I nodded my head. "Yes, yes they are." I replied. Stoick mumbled something about sleep and left the room. Toothless looked at my confused.

"Your scent just changed from human to some type of mix between human and dragon and back to human!" Toothless exclaimed. "What are you talking about?" I asked. Toothless paused then sniffed the air. "Never mind forget that I said that, I must be really tired because my senses are acting up." Toothless replied. "Shadow what is he talking about?" I asked in dragonese. Shadow just shrugged his shoulders. "Good night, you two." I said as I closed the door. I heard Hiccup and Toothless walk down the hall and close their door behind them.


	20. I discover a new ability and Toothless s

Chapter #20: I discover a new ability and Toothless sets me on fire.

I had woken up the next morning feeling like I usually do when I first wake up. Tired. I looked over to my side to see Shadow starting to wake up as well. I had gotten out of bed and walked to the bathroom. I had shut the door behind me and secured the lock. I had then splashed water on my face and stretched. That's when I had gotten a good look at myself in the mirror.

I was jolted awake not just by the freezing cold water in my face but by my appearance. All of my skin had been replaced by midnight black diamond hard scales. I had slitted dark brown eyes and wings that were sticking out of my back and a tail.

I started to ask myself a bunch of questions at once. "Did anyone see me? "How could've this happened overnight?" "What if Hiccup finds out?" "Can I change back?" "Can I really fly?" After about a minute I calmed down and my curiosity turned into fascination. My had folded my tail in and out, back and forth.

The thing that shocked me the most though were my wings. They probably had a full wing span of about fourteen feet but that was just a guess because they were hidden behind my back and I could only see the tips of the wings. I had all of the physical aspects of a night fury but I still had a human body. To put it in simpler terms. I look like a person who has night fury scales for skin.

Wings sprouting out of my back. Dangerously sharp teeth and claws, pointed ears and a tail. One good thing about this is that I have still hands and feet and the fact that I still think and act like a human being. Although my finger and toenails were replaced by claws and my human teeth a million times sharper and I felt somewhat smarter than I usually am.

Out of curiosity I licked the points of my teeth. My tongue is forked. I was so transfixed by the changes that have been made to my body, that I jumped when there was a knock at the door. Be human. I told myself and once more my body listened. My scales seemed to sink into my flesh and disappear.

My eyes, hands fingernails and toenails all turned back to normal. In just a few moments all of my dragon appearances were replaced by their human originals. The entire process was absolutely painless and although it did feel a bit weird. I knew that I would be changing forms a lot.

"Yes!" I answered before I dunked my head in a cold bucket of water."Stoick wants us ready and out the house in an hour." Hiccup replied. "Ok." I responded. I had finished washing up and left the bathroom. I opened my bedroom door and walked inside.

Shadow was waiting for me when I had shut the door behind me. We stared at each other for about a second. We both had a serious expression on our faces. "We need to talk." We both started laughing shortly afterwards. We had said the same thing at the same time. "You first." Shadow insisted. I smiled. "I'm more of a night fury than you think."

"I figured it out this morning when I woke up."

"Really? What happened?" Shadow asked. I had used our bond and showed him the events from my mind. "Did anyone see you?"

"I don't think so, but we'll worry about that later."

"Can you show me your new form?" Shadow asked. I had looked over at the closed door and locked it. I had then let my scales appear, I let my tail and wings show. I had felt my eyes, ears, teeth, and tongue begin to change. Before I knew it I was in my dragon form and I roared triumphantly and spread my wings to their fullest extent.

I dove out of the open window and out of my room. Then my instincts had kicked in. Within a few seconds flying had actually felt natural as if I've been doing it for years, and not for the first time. I then started to circle around the house. I then shot upwards. I was going really, really fast. I knew this because I heard the sound barrier break from somewhere below me.

I flew higher and higher and higher. I flew upward until the air was paper thin. I then let my wings go limp and I was falling towards the ground. I wasn't scared. Night fury are not supposed to show fear. Instead I felt happy. I had felt free. I then curled my wings around my humanoid form and began to dive bomb. Now the free falling was cool, but this. This is amazing. I spun as I was diving through the air.

All I could see were milky white clouds reforming as I dove through them. The house then started to take form as I dove through a few more clouds. I jerked to my right to avoid the house. While I was still spinning in a mid dive bomb I charged a fireball and shot it towards the ground. I spread my wings to their fullest extent to slow my descent.

I landed a second after the fireball had made contact with the ground and exploded on impact. A small mist had covered my body as I landed on my feet with my wings wrapped around my body. I had then shot another fireball right above where I was standing. The fireball had done what I had wanted it to. It exploded in midair and covered my form in the colored mist as I spread my wings and taken flight once more. I had shot straight upward then quickly jerked to my left and dive bombed through the open window and into my room.

"Looks like you had adjusted to your new form." Shadow said as he smirked at me. I smirked back. "Yeah, I did." I replied as I turned back into my original body. My human body. "Did anyone see that five star show you put on beside me?"I gave Shadow a comical stare. "I hope so." I answered back.

"Do you think Toothless would be jealous if he was watching?" I asked.

"Definitely." I smirked. "Good. I want him to be." "Now, what were you going to tell me?" I asked. Shadow's features had acquired a serious tone. Shadow had cleared his throat and opened his mouth to answer my question. "Taj!" I heard a voice yell from downstairs. My enhanced senses picked it up perfectly. It was Hiccup. "Maybe later?" I asked. "Maybe later." Shadow agreed.

"Come downstairs it's time to go." Hiccup said. I looked at Shadow. "Let's head out." I said as I attached the saddle to Shadow's body and attached his automatic tail to the right half of his tail. My flying gear and sword were already on my person. "Let's go." Shadow replied. I climbed on the saddle and had Shadow dive out of the window.

Hiccup and Stoick yelled my name right before they closed the door behind them. "Right here." I whispered in Hiccup's ear. He jumped. He turned his head around so fast I'm surprised he didn't snap his neck in the process. "How did you get up there?" Hiccup asked. I smiled at the Viking chief and son. I was hanging upside down being held up by Shadow's strong tail.

Toothless, who was by Hiccup's side snickered and shot a fireball towards Shadow. Shadow had thrown me seventy feet into the air. I could hear and see everything as if i was right there by Shadow's side. The ball of piping hot fire had sailed harmlessly past his head and exploded in midair. Shadow rolled his eyes. "Why do all younger brothers have to be so annoying."

Shadow asked Toothless. "It's our job to annoy our older siblings. It makes living with them bearable and by the way your friend is starting to fall."

"I'm fine." I told him mentally. "He'll be alright." Shadow said. Toothless had given Shadow a shocked and bewildered look.

"You're insane he'll die if you don't catch him!" Toothless exclaimed. Shadow just smiled.

"I think I know my rider better than you, thank you very much." Shadow said snobbishly.

"Toothless why would you do that?!" Hiccup asked angered and surprised by what Toothless had done. Toothless turned his attention to his rider.

"Perfect Toothless is distracted." I thought to myself. I had pulled a cord on my flying gear. Giant metal wings had burst from the metal backpack. I had guided myself so I would land right behind Toothless. When I was aligned behind him, I had pushed a button that was on my chest. The wings had folded themselves back into the backpack and I had put my arms and closed my legs together so I could gain speed.

I was soon going so fast my clothes whipped in the air and my skin stung. I had shown Shadow a glimpse of what I was seeing. He smiled. Toothless was too preoccupied by Hiccup and didn't notice I was four feet away from him. I had taken my left hand and wrapped it around my wrist and adjusted my shoulder so I would hit him. I smiled. At the speed I was going. Along with my weight and fast speed and trajectory.

I predicted that I would knock Toothless off his feet and send him flying. I was a foot away from my target and closing in. Shadow yelled in dragonese. "Look out!" Toothless turned and the last thing he saw me flying toward him. The night fury couldn't react fast enough. I slammed into his body full speed and full force. He was knocked backwards a few feet and tumbled down a nearby hill. I tumbled along with him.

We finally stopped rolling down the hill. I landed on top on Toothless' chest. I jumped to my feet. I was still dizzy from falling down the hill. Dazed by smacking into him at high speeds and in pain from the impact. The Viking Chief and his son had stumbled down the hill with Shadow running by their heels. They came down in just enough time to see me put my hands on my knees and puke.

I could see that Shadow looked sick as well but held he held himself together. I had wiped the spit and vomit off of my lips with my arm and flicked it off me. "I should burn you to a crisp." That hurt. Toothless growled.

"Do it." I snapped back in dragonese.

"I dare you." Toothless smiled evilly.

Hiccup shivered. "What did Toothless just say?" Hiccup asked. I ignored him.

"Gladly." Toothless said. Stoick was stunned. He didn't know I knew dragonese. Hiccup was worried. He didn't know what would happen next. Shadow just stood by watching. Not wanting to interfere, he knew that I wanted to handle it on my own. Toothless charged a fireball. I didn't even flinch. Instead I had dropped my sword and unclipped my flying gear from my back and pointed at the spot on my chest where my heart located.

"Hit me right here, unless you don't have the guts to shoot me and prove that you really are a useless uneducated, weak hatchling I always knew you were. I said in English with venom in my words. The ball had exploded when it had collided with my chest sending me flying backwards and engulfed my skin and clothes in flames. I had hit the ground with a loud thud. My clothes were a pile of burnt fabric.

I could literally smell burning flesh and smoldering clothes. I was bleeding profusely and in pain. The wound that Stormfly had caused me had opened back up when the fireball had came in contact with it. Hiccup and Stoick ran over to my body and knelt by my side. I was losing lots of blood very quickly. I was in extreme pain.

Toothless had shot me. He literally charged up a fire ball and shot me. My giant gash that was caused by Stormfly when she mauled me had now opened back up. I had flown twelve feet and landed on my back. I could hear Shadow screaming in pain. Despite of of this Shadow had spoken to me mentally.

"Do you want to know what I wanted to tell you earlier?" He asked using his mind. "Yes, yes I do." I replied. "My name, my true name is Troverdig. I could feel the power in the name course throughout my body. His name was Norwegian. We call it Norse for short. It suits him. Shadow's true name was the Norse word for trustworthy. I licked my lips and silently mouthed his name. "Troverdig."

In just a few short seconds I had gained the knowledge of Shadow's entire life all the way up to this entire moment. I know who he likes, who he doesn't. I know everything he was afraid of, and everything he wasn't. I know everything Shadow knows about himself and some he doesn't. I even known things he had never shared with me and I understood why he didn't. He didn't want to scare me with the details.

I had suddenly felt tired. Extremely tired. I could feel my life slipping further and further away but I had to say something, I didn't want to say it out loud. It was too personal, so I had said it mentally. I said it to Shadow and only him. "Thank you for sharing that with me,Troverdig." "Thank you for everything, you've been a good friend. Goodbye Shadow. "Goodbye." I has said once more but using my voice instead.

My eyelids felt like lead weights. The urge to sleep was overpowering, so I closed my eyes and smiled. Shadow's voice was the last thing I heard before I had blacked out. Probably for good.


	21. I make a new friend in an unfriendly pla

Author's Note (A/N): Ok, sorry for taking forever with an update but hey, if you read my bio you know my age. I've gotten grounded by my dad and he took my Nook HD plus. Which means no update. Once again sorry for the long wait. Heres the story.

Chapter #21: I make a new friend in an unfriendly place.

I am not exactly dead, although I'm not alive either. I could still feel Shadow's mental presence and my ears were ringing from his scream, but I know that I'm not in Midgard. I looked around and saw nothing except a white mist that swirled around my ankles. All of a sudden a giant light appears. My human side had absolutely no clue what to do so I let my dragon instincts guide me on what to do.

I stepped down to one knee and bowed my head. I guess I already knew who was hidden by the light. The person hidden under the blanket of light and heat was none other than Odin himself. The rulers of the gods. (Odin is also the god of the sky, death, war, and wisdom.)

"All father." I called. "How may I serve you?" I asked. The sky god chuckled. "You have served me well enough over the years. In return for your faithful service, I grant you access to Valhalla but you must pass a series of trials I had prepared for you to prove you are worthy enough to enter." I nodded my head. I couldn't believe I could have a chance of entering Valhalla. I was so excited, then I thought about Shadow and the friends I had made while on Berk.

"Whatever you ask of me to do, I will accomplish, although I do not wish to go to Valhalla instead I would like to return to Midgard so I can once again see my dragon, Shadow and my friends on Berk." I replied. There was a short pause. "Very well, I will have a Valkyrie write you into the reserve book. So the next time you die in battle, you will be allowed into Valhalla." I thanked the sky god. "However, first trial begins now." Odin had told me.

The mist that once floated at my ankles, now had risen and covered my body in its slightly cold and transparent embrace and I silently drifted away. Awaiting my first test. The mist soon had dispersed and disappeared from sight. I found myself in an immensely hot and dark landscape. The air smells of sulfur and death.

"Hel." I whispered. No, I don't mean the goddess of death but the world where she reigns. (The names are the same.) I looked around spinning in a small circle drinking in my surroundings. "Are you just going to stand there?" A voice asked. I shot my head in the direction of the sound. Hel (the goddess) was on her throne with Loki by her side. (Loki is the god of mischief as well as Hel's father.) I turned my body towards them gotten to one knee and bowed respectfully. (I was aiming my respect for only one deity in particular.)

"You may stand." The goddess had told me. I had did as I was told and wiped the dust off of my pants. Hel smiled. "Odin told me you would be coming, I have prepared a test for you." The goddess continued to speak. "If you pass I will send you to the next challenge and if you fail, you will stay here forever." The goddess had warned. I had sat there and stared at the death goddess, with a stupid look in my face. I didn't know how to react at that point.

My dragon instincts were no help. My instincts told me to run to her yelling mother and give her a hug. Nightfurys are the offspring of lightning and death and I technically counted as both human and Night fury. Which means Hel is my mother and Thor (The god of thunder and lightning.) is my father. My human side simply didn't know what to do."This human is just like the rest of them, ignorant and stupid."

I didn't know what the god had meant when he said that, but he called me ignorant and stupid. I don't take kindly to being insulted and his voice was the most annoying thing I've ever heard which makes it even worse. "Who are you calling ignorant, you annoying, evil, self righteous, arrogant little twit." I snapped at the mischief god. (Hel snickered and grinned at me.) "Nice one." Hel commented on my insult. "Why thank you." I said mirthfully with a bow.

Loki on the other hand didn't take kindly to my comment. "Quiet." The mischief god snapped at his daughter. "Hey, dad this guy's hilarious can I hear just a couple more jokes before I start the test?" Hel requested as she laughed. "No, start the test now." Loki demanded. The goddess regained her composure and given me a sorrowful look. She didn't really want to start the test she obviously enjoys my company, but she did as she was told.

The goddess snapped her fingers and a black scaled dragon appeared. It was a night fury. A female night fury. The dragoness looked at me. She growled and bared her fangs. "Don't even think about it." The female night fury threatened. She stood on her hind legs and snarled, in an attempt to scare me."I know more than you think I do." I told the dragon in dragonese.

"I also know how rare a night fury can be, so I'm not going to hurt you." I added. I could tell she was still frightened but she now seemed curious. Her eyes no longer shown any sign of fear and anger. "Really?" She asked wanting reassurance. "Really." I replied. I seemed to have boosted her confidence, the dragoness relaxed.

"So, you're not going to kill the dragon which is required to pass my challenge?" The death goddess, Hel asked slightly amused. I shook my head. "There's no need to kill something that doesn't wish to cause harm to me or anyone else. I replied. "Very good." Hel complimented. "You have passed your first test."

Hel had told me as she snapped her fingers causing a small portal to appear. "You must have another person to accompany you in your next test." The goddess informed me. "What is my next challenge?" I asked. "I do not know, Odin had not informed me on that." I nodded my head.

"As I said before, you need another person to accompany you for the next test." The goddess told me. "Just tell me who you want to bring and they will appear." Hel stated. "I want her to accompany me." I said as I gestured to the dragoness. Loki had shot me a look that made my skin crawl and body shiver. "She is my daughter, her name is Krystal." Hel stated.

I nodded my head as she walked by my side. "Hey, Loki." I said angerily. The god looked in my direction. "Next time you disrespect my mother I will rip your arms off and shove them down your throat!" I threatened. "I would love it if you tried." The god said in response. I willed my body to switch to my dragon form, it responded appropriately. I ran towards the god with my claws and teeth retracted.

Loki, Hel, and Krystal jaw's all dropped in shock. Loki recovered from his shock the quickest. He then ducked and barrel rolled to avoid my claws half a second later. "Ha!" Loki shouted triumphantly. "You missed." I pivoted in his direction and swung another claw. The god squealed in fear and jumped backwards in order to avoid having his throat slashed. Loki then reached his arms out in front of his body.

The chitauri scepter appeared in Loki's grasps. (His favorite weapon.) He then aimed it at me. I charged a fireball in response. The throne room was still. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. Nobody even breathed. Loki and I had shot each other cold stares. Krystal and Hel shot nervous glances at one another. Loki had then swung his scepter at my face. I had caught the weapon in mid strike with extreme speed and reflexes.

Loki was once again shocked by my actions. I had then sweep kicked Loki and ripped his scepter from his grip as he fell on his back. "Give it back, I need that." Loki whined. I kicked Loki in the ribs with such a force that he had skidded across the room and smacked his head against a wall.

The god slumped over unconscious. I had then thrown the chitauri like a spear towards the unconscious deity. The two points of the weapon had wedged itself in the same stone Loki's head rested. The gods throat was only but an inch from the tip of the blade pinning the god. "Here you go, Loki." I said with a mock tone to the benumbed and pinned down god.

I looked at the goddess. I was still angry, but my anger soon melted as I saw the expression on her face. Fear. I quickly started to change back to my human form as I cricked my neck, getting the sores out of it. "I'm sorry if I scared you." I told my mother. She nodded her head slowly. "Did you kill him?" The goddess asked. "No." I responded. "He might be annoying, and self centered, and extremely stupid, and arrogant, and."

The goddess cut me off. "Okay, I get it, my dad has a tendency to get on everyone's nerves in many ways. (She emphasized on the word everyone.) "Thank you for your understanding." I said with a smile. The goddess smiled back. We sat there and stared at each other for a moment before Hel started to burst out laughing. I joined in seconds later. We laughed for another few seconds before the humor died and we stopped laughing.

The goddess cleared her throat. I should send you and Krystal to the next test." Krystal agreed. "Bye, mom. I had told the goddess. Krystal had done the same. "Goodbye, my children. I hope I won't have to see you any time soon." Normally, I would have questioned why a mother would ever say that to her child, but it was Hel the goddess of death after all. I thanked her instead. The white mist appeared once more and covered our bodies and we floated away.

The mist had soon dropped back down to my ankles and dispersed. I looked to my left see Krystal at my side, standing on her hind legs. I was back in Midgard, but I could tell that my tests and trials were not over. I looked at Krystal, she seemed to be getting over the shock of what happened in Hel. (I'm talking about the realm, not the goddess.) "Do you think Loki is okay?" Krystal asked. "Yeah, he'll be alright." I replied. "He might have some trouble getting the scepter away from his neck." I added playfully.

Krystal cracked a smile. As we talked we were walking towards a village. "So." Krystal said. "Are you human or are you a dragon?" She asked. "It's complicated." I said. The dragoness nodded her head. "Can you try and explain it?" She asked. We stopped walking. It will take me a while to explain. I warned. She shot me a look. "We're dead, we have all the time in the world." She explained. "Fair enough." I replied.

I sighed and began to explain everything that has happened up to this point. I told her about the time Shadow saved my life. I told her about all of the inventions I've made that helped Shadow regain his flight and helped me bond with Shadow. I told her about my life on Dragonblood island. I explained to her my time with my family and my time with Shadow.

I told her about the bond I shared with Shadow and how I learned about dragonese. I explained how Shadow and I crash landed on Berk after a large storm. I described how I met the villagers of Berk and the relationships I had with each one. I explained how the Haddocks took me in and given me a home. I explained how Shadow and I had always argued and beat up Toothless. I explained how I tackled Toothless and how it resulted to my death. Krystal was an excellent listener.

While I talked she would occasionally nod and grunt. I finally finished my talk when I described my talk with Odin. She then explained me about her life. She then told me how she had tried to rebel against the red death. She told me how she constantly was on the run from her minions. She would lived in really bad places to escape the red death. From nasty, dark, pest infested caves. To the freezing cold, thin aired, foodless, mountains. She told me that she eventually died when she made a failed attempt to assassinate the dragon queen.

We stared at each other. A couple seconds had felt like hours. I tried to picture a young dragoness trying to take on the dragon who was possibly the biggest dragon in history. We finally stopped staring and started to walk towards the village once more.


	22. The second challenge is bigger than I ex

Chapter #22: The second challenge is bigger than I expected.

We walked towards the village hoping that the next challenge would be as easy as the first one. We continued to talk as we walked. "Do you think that Odin would let me live again?" Krystal asked. "I hope so because things can escalate pretty quickly in a village like Berk." I replied. "Maybe you can stop fights and arguments before they get too serious." I added. We laughed at my comment.

"You make it seem like the Vikings on Berk are pretty friendly to the native dragons, because the last time I checked the vikings of Berk have been fighting us for about fifty-two years." Krystal said. "Oh, yeah I forgot to mention that a villager on Berk had made friends with a male night fury and together they defeated the red death.

"Tell me more." The dragoness demanded curiously. I smiled and told her what Hiccup had once told me. "He also named the night fury Toothless because of his retractable teeth." I added after telling her about the red death incident. Krystal began to laugh. She laughed so hard she fell to the ground and clutched her sides with her paws. "That is the most ridiculous name in all of history."

Krystal said in between her boisterous laughter. "How about Shadow?" I asked. I named my dragon Shadow." I commented. "That's actually a pretty good name." She stated "How did you come up with that." She asked.

"Shadow is a night fury and so I named him that on the account of his black scales and how a Shadow becomes invisible during the night." I stated.

"Berk seems like a nice place." Krystal commented. "Yes, yes it is." I commented but "But it would be better with you living us." I added. Krystal blushed. "I think you are starting to get a crush on a certain dragon." Krystal said. I looked around playfully. "Funny I don't the dragon you are talking about." She lightly hit me on the shoulder. I smiled. We arrived at the village.

The gate was old and rusted. The air smelled of dust and decay. The village was completely empty and for some reason it seemed strangely familiar. We pushed open the gate and with a loud squeal it opened and walked to survey the area. We walked in and out of buildings and houses.

We couldn't find anything useful or interesting so we stopped in the village square. I looked to my left and found a house that was secluded from the rest. I had gotten Krystal's attention and we walked inside the building moments later. The outside was badly burned although the inside looked fairly new. (As new as molded and bad smelling can look.)

We searched the entire first floor and as expected didn't find anything useful. We didn't trust the stairs would hold our weight so I had my wings form and Kristel And I flew up to the second floor. There was a hallway with at least four doors side by side along the walls and a fifth straight ahead. "This reminds me of my house on Dragonblood island." I told Kristel. "How so?" She asked. "My house had this same layout." I told her. I looked at the walls and I could make out faded designs in the molded wood. "And the same wall designs." I added.

"You know, Taj, I am beginning to wonder why Odin insisted you have someone come with you on this trip." (I have been thinking about this for a while now.) "Maybe he had felt generous." I joked. Kristel had shot me a look. "I'm serious about this." I shrugged my shoulders. "I really don't have a clue" I told her. She entered the room to my left. She screamed and I heard a loud thump.

I ran into the room to see her on the floor with her wings, and paws tied up. She wriggled and struggled against the restraints but she couldn't get free. "Hold on, give me a second to get you out." The design looked oddly familiar. There were heavy interlocking chains that were being weighed down by large weighted black balls that hung loosely just above the floor.

I racked my brain trying to remember why this trap rang a bell. I had looked around the dragon trap and found what I was looking for. The release switch. I had jammed the switch with my fist and the trap was reset. Krystal was free. "Sorry I forgot to warn you about the multiple pressure activated dragon snares around the house." (I have never felt so stupid in my entire life.) Krystal had shot me a curious look.

"How did you know so much about these traps?" Krystal demanded. "I had built them." I replied. "This is my old house on Dragonblood island." I said not wanting to believe it was true. I looked up from where I was standing and Kristel did the same. There were planks of wood boarded together on top of the cobblestone that made the roof. "This was my room." I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. "This is dragonblood island." I stated to Krystal. The ground had rushed towards me and I blacked out.

I had woken up.(Well, I was currently dead. Which means I can't regain consciousness, anyway you get the idea).

"What happened?" I asked. "You fainted after you realized where we were and I so flown you down here to try and wake you up." I looked around and realized I was on the first floor. A few moments later we were back on the second floor, I disarmed all of the traps and we searched the house. That's when I remembered something very important.

"Shadow and I had cleared out the village after we shipwrecked on Berk." I said. Krystal sighed in annoyance. "There is one place we didn't clear out completely though. We decided to come back later and collect the rest." I said. "C'mon I'll show you the way." Moments later we had landed right in front of my secret forge in the woods. I cricked my neck and made my wings and scales sink back into my skin and the rest of the changes followed immediately after.

"Krystal cringed. " Doesn't it hurt when you do that?" Krystal asked. "No, it used to feel weird though, but I had got over it." I had opened the door to my forge and let Krystal in. I had built my forge big enough to fit Shadow, myself, and up to ten smelting furnaces. "I had taken all of the best inventions and tools to Berk, but I didn't bring all of them." Multiple trinkets, gadgets, and devices all shapes and sizes had either hanged on walls, or were leaning against chairs and walls, or put in corners waiting patiently to be completed.

Multiple wooden tables were clustered here and there. There were all littered with books filled with blueprints, scientific findings, and ideas, all found out or thought up by yours truly. "Wow." Krystal breathed. I smiled enjoying her amusement over my ingenious. My cheeriness had soon gone away as quickly as it came. "Hello, I welcome you to your next test." A voice had said from a dark corner of the forge. I whipped my head towards the voice.

"Who are you and how did you get into my forge?" I demanded. The person chuckled and stepped out of the shadows. My jaw dropped, my eyes grew to the size of Gobber's fist, and I could find it hard to speak. The man who would decide my next challenge was no other than Beowulf. Beowulf was the strongest, toughest, and most famous of all the vikings. There are hundreds of stories, tales, and songs describing all of his glorious adventures, feats, and his time as king of Geatsland .

Beowulf was and still is, the most famous viking of all time. Beowulf had decided to speak. "I see you have a friend with you, reminds me of my son." I responded with a slow nod. "Speaking of my son, to beat your next challenge you have to defeat him." I nodded my head. "Why did Odin insist for Taj to have a person go with him?" Krystal asked. Beowulf looked confused. He probably didn't understand her comment. I cleared my throat and translated her question.

"You can understand that horrid language?" Beowulf asked. "Yeah, I can speak it as well." I said. "Its called Dragonese, is that a problem." I added moments later. The deceased king had shot me a look of horror. "Can we get back to describing the challenge, now" I asked trying to change the subject. "As you wish, dragon boy." The king said venomously. "What did you just call me!" I demanded as I morphed into my dragon form and got in his face. "Thor, help me." Beowulf pleaded. "Thor would never help someone if you insult his children." I stated.

The viking hero looked as if he would soil his pants. I heard Krystal snickering from somewhere behind me. "Shall I start the test?" Beowulf asks weakly. I stepped a few feet away from him and nodded. I forced my body to change back to it's original form, I made sure Beowulf could hear my bones cracking and shifting. The said king cringed.

"Great gods of Asgard that seemed to appear rather painful." Beowulf said. "I actually don't feel a thing, and its normally without all the noise but I wanted you to hear the sounds of smashed bones so you can get used to it." I said. "Why would I want to get used to it?" The honorable man asked. "Because, that's the only noise your son will make when I'm done with him." I said.

"Don't make fun of my kind." I snapped. The king nodded in fear. "Now could you please answer my friend's question, I would warn you to be respectful but I think I already straightened that out." I mouthed. He thought about what he was about to say. "You must have a companion accompany you on this challenge because my son is, well he is..." Beowulf paused before continuing. "My son is not human, he is actually quite large." Krystal and I nodded our heads. "We must go outside for me to summon him."

We followed the king out of the forge and he summoned his son by snapping his fingers. A large dragon had appeared. He was as large as Dragonblood's town hall. (If the dimensions were multiplied by 500.) "Holy Thor." I said nearly breathless.

"You just insulted the language of dragons but your son is one of us." I said. "Where was the logic in that?" I asked the old king. The dragon roared. "I will defeat all who challenge me!" The dragon proclaimed. He then swung his large claws towards my head and tried to crush Krystal with his hind paw.

Krystal and I had dodged the attacks and stood with our backs leaning against each other. "What should we do?* Krystal asked. "Can all night fury establish mental links, or is Shadow a special case?" I asked. "Why?" she asked. "I have an idea." I replied. She answered when I felt something nudge my mind. I quickly dropped by mental walls and let her access my mind, she did the same. Almost instantly a wave of emotions, memories, and thoughts had crashed upon my brain.

She had felt the same thing, I knew this because we both stumbled backwards and shivered. I had shifted back into my dragon form and shot towards the large dragon. Krystal did the same. I heard the sound barrier break and Beowulf scream in pain. (When a sonic boom occurs, it has the power to cause hearing loss.) Krystal and I had made the same boisterous laugh in unison. We had stopped at the dragon's midsection and spun in circles around his body.

We,were flying as fast as we could. We didn't stop, even when we started getting tired. The enemy dragon tried to claw at us, but we were too fast for him. He eventually gave up and blew fire at us instead. The air that curled off our wings was so powerful it made the fire disperse and eventually disappear completely. I had then shot towards the dragon's face and clawed at his eyes and blow fireballs up his nostrils. The fireballs had exploded when they reached the edge of the cavity.

The dragon screamed in pain and instinctively put his paws up to his nose. He had accidently hit Krystal in the process. She was knocked out of her obit and slammed into the ground. Pain had exploded all throughout my back and wings. Krystal and I simultaneously screamed in agony. Despite the pain I had flown towards his open mouth and blown more fireballs.

(A dragon's body may be impervious to fire, but no matter what animal you are, your lungs are flammable.) The dragon bellowed once more and crumpled towards the ground. I could physically see the fireballs explode inside his chest. His chest had faintly glowed purple before it involuntary expanded. The dragon's chest had burned from the inside.

I had then flew to Krystal's side and helped her up. "You, okay?" I asked. She nodded and we walked towards the shocked dead guy. We grinned. "Take us next to the next test." I demanded. He nodded and the familiar white mist had enveloped Krystal and I and we drifted off, away from Dragonblood island.


	23. The last Challenge has more surprises th

Chapter #23: The last Challenge has more surprises than expected.

The more I think about it. The more I begin to accept the fact it is true. I have all of the knowledge and memories of two different dragons in my head.

One dragon year is equivalent to 100 human years. Shadow is twenty-five. If I were to convert that into human years, he is 2,500 human years old.

Krystal is 19. If I were to convert that it would come out to be 1,900 years old. I have all of Shadow's and Krystal's memories and knowledge. Altogether that is 4,400 years worth of knowledge.

Just thinking about it made me shiver. I am probably the world's smartest person. I share my thoughts with Krystal, and try to reconnect with Shadow. But no matter how smart I think I was, I could have never prepared myself for this next and hopefully last test.

The mist had sunk to our ankles and dispersed until it was no longer visible. Krystel and I had found ourselves in a large hall. There were four chairs that stood in the middle of the room, all facing in our direction.

Krystal and I looked at each other in confusion, because of the mental link we already knew what we were thinking. "What are we doing here."

There was a flash of light and a crack of thunder. The four seats that were once empty now have people sitting in them.

Since I was already in my human form, I bowed my head. Krystal had lowered her head to the floor as a sign of respect.

I automatically recognized one of the four. So my guess is that they are all gods. Thor (the god of thunder.) sat in the chair to the far left. The four deities had stood of and identified themselves.

Thor had stood up, said his name and that he was the Norse god of thunder. The god on the right of Thor had identified himself as Zeus, the Greek god of lightning.

The god next to him identified himself as Jupiter, the roman god of lightning. The last god on the far right had identified himself as Baal, the Egyptian god of thunder.

Krystal and I stared in awe as the gods spoke. I've only seen two other gods. One of them I befriended and the other I left unconscious.

But I've haven't seen four gods all under one room, especially when each god is from a different religion, culture, and part of history.

The Vikings haven't really been interested in the history of the previous lands. I have always been fascinated by the different religions, gods, and cultures. Now, I can have all of my unanswered questions, solved.

I was about to say something when Thor decided to speak. "This is not a test, it is a just a chance for you to gather your strength." Thor had stated.

"Although the next test, which is your last will challenge you physically, mentally, and emotionally." I nodded my head.

"We have all talked and decided on a worthy challenge for you." Thor told me. I knew he was talking about himself and he other gods.

"What will happen with Krystal, will she be allowed to live on Berk with me if I survive this last challenge?" I asked. "It is not my decision to make, it is hers."

Thor responded. I nodded my head and looked back at Krystal, waiting for her response. "My answer is no, I'm sorry, Taj."."Krystal stated. Thor nodded his head. "Very well."

"What why?" I asked. "I don't think I'll fit in with the others, I've been dead for a century. Too much has changed since then, I don't think I'm ready for that." Krystal stated.

I nodded my head. "I understand. Toothless is going through the same thing. He's been the red deaths control for most of his life."

"I have another question, father." I had said as I morphed into my human/dragon form and gotten down to one knee.

He smiled. "I have been watching you, I have seen all you have achieved and accomplished. For that. I will gladly answer any and all of your questions. My son."

The other gods looked confused. "I will explain this later." Thor told them. They nodded their heads in response.

"I want to know if you could help me master and have full control of this ability." I stated.

"I don't want to have to explain to Hiccup and the others why I might have a sudden fear of eels, and I definitely don't want to be caught rolling around in dragon nip." I commented. Thor chuckled.

"Of course, but before I do, I need you to pass the next challenge." I nodded my head. "You do know Krystal won't be there to help you." I nodded sadly. Thor had gotten down to one knee.

"Cheer up, if you win or die you can still hang out with Krystal, Shadow, and Toothless and I will still be here to help you." He stated. I knew he was right.

Dragons are not immortal. They just live longer than humans, way longer. I had gotten back up. "I'm ready for the next challenge." I stated. The gods looked at each other and nodded collectively.

Zeus had made a clap of thunder. So had Baal. Then Jupiter. And lastly Thor had swung his hammer and formed a clap of thunder.

The mist had appeared once more. This time it only encased me. Not Krystal. I was whisked away to my last challenge, hoping that I would succeed.

The mist soon dropped down to my ankles and disappeared. I was in the Arctic. One of the coldest places on Earth but ironically its the perfect place for dragons.

The thing with dragons and night furies especially is that they can easily adapt to any and every environment.

Dragonblood island was the perfect place for me to study this. The island goes through four different stages of weather.

One example of night furies being able to adapt in different environments is in the summer.

Shadow's scales would spit and have small gaps in between them, the gaps would cool him down faster if it was too hot during the day.

Another example of dragons adapting into an environment is that if it gets too cold outside.

Shadow's scales would close together, so that Shadow's body heat could be trapped inside his body, so he couldn't freeze to death.

All of the other breeds of dragons have their own unique ways of adjusting to the environment as well. I will talk more about that later though.

(If I remember to bring this discussion back up.)

I looked around, which proved itself to be utterly useless.

All I had seen was ice, snow, and a faint light from the sun in the distance. I changed into my dragon/human form and took flight.

I thought about heading over to my aunt's dragon sanctuary. She said I was always welcomed.

I soon found the familiar iceberg that hid the overly large den from view. I could hear my aunt Valka talking to Cloudjumper.

"Auntie V!" I yelled as I flew over the dragon sanctuary. She didn't appear to hear me. I flew to Cloudjumper's side. The red stormcutter didn't seem to notice me either. Oh right. I'm dead. I reminded myself grumpily.

I tried smacking Cloudjumper in the back of the head and stomping on his paws. He didn't feel a thing. Great. Nobody can hear or see me. Not even dragons.

I hate being ignored. Especially by friends. I then heard a voice from somewhere behind me.

"Ha, you're alive. I didn't think you would this far." I whipped my head around to face the speaker. "Shut up, Loki." I said slightly annoyed. Loki chuckled. "That's uncle Loki, show me some respect."

I really want to punch him in his jaw. It would make me feel better. So I did. Loki stumbled backwards and fell onto the ice. "Why do you and your siblings always resort to injuring me on sight." Loki asked as he picked himself up.

"You talk badly about our mother and you aren't on good terms with our father." I replied. "Thor knows who the real owner of that throne is, he's just too stubborn to forfeit it to me." Loki said.

I rolled my eyes, choosing to ignore the comment. "And my mother?" I asked. "For one. She's my daughter. I am allowed to tell her who she can and cannot marry. She completely ignored me."

I laughed. "With a voice that annoying, I wouldn't listen to you either." I said. "My voice is not annoying." Loki snapped. "Why are you here, Loki?" I asked.

"To tell you some good news." Loki stated. "You are the god of mischief, correct?" I asked. Loki pointed to his favorite weapon. "Of course I am." The mischief god stated proudly.

"Then you never have any good news to spread." I stated bluntly. Loki thought for a second before responding. "Odin wanted me to tell you something." I nodded my head.

"That's better." I stated. "I'll be the one who decides your final test." Loki stated with pride.

"Alright Loki, what's my last challenge?" I asked. "You have to battle my son, Fenrir." I cursed. "Or are you too weak to complete such a task." Loki teased. "Fine, I'll do it." I snapped.

"I knew you would, you'll die otherwise." Loki said joyfully. "Wouldn't be a problem, my mother is the goddess of death and my father is the death god." I stated.

"You would lose your friends and family." Said Loki. "They'll die eventually and I will be able to see them again." I retorted.

Loki stuttered his next words, and then shut his mouth. He couldn't think of anything else to say.

Loki snapped his fingers and a large wolf appeared at his heels moments later. "Fenrir, get him." Loki snapped as he pointed at me.

I turned and ran. The dragon sanctuary disappeared from view. Fenrir followed in pursuit. I thought about what I could do to escape him. Fenrir was fast. Very fast. I roared and turned into my hybrid dragon form.

I had gotten an extra burst of energy and quickened my pace. Fenrir and I got further and further away from each other. I thought I would outrun him. I was dead wrong.

He jumped and he landed on my shoulders making me fall. I spun around shot into the air. The sound barrier collapsed from the speed I flew.

Fenrir dug his claws into my collar bone. I growled and flew even higher into the sky. The sound barrier broke again as I sped up.

Fenrir started to loosen his grip on my shoulder. I flew higher and faster. The sound barrier broke for a third time. The air was paper thin so I took small breaths to conserve my energy.

Fernin finally lost consciousness. He lost his grip on me and fell towards the icy ground.

I shot after him, to see him fall. I thought we were too far away from the ground. I was wrong. Dead wrong.

We were falling for five minutes when the ground floor finally came into view.

Fenrir smacked into the ground with such a force he fell through the ice and was immersed in the icy arctic waters.

I fanned out my wings to slow my descent and hovered in the air. I charged a fireball and shot into the gash in the ice where Fenrir was located.

The ground exploded and water splashed in all directions. Fernin laid in a puddle of water, with his fur soaking wet. I listened for a heartbeat using my enhanced hearing.

Yeah, he might have been frost bitten, have most of his fur singe off from my fireball and did have hundreds of broken bones. But at least he was alive.

"Loki, I'm sorry. I didn't know high up I was." I told a traumatized Loki. He waved his hand dismissively.

"Just leave." Loki said sorrowfully. He slumped down to his knees and picked up his badly injured son.

The mist formed around my ankles and slowly immersed me in its clutches and tugged me towards Asgard.

I had just completed my last test and I finally got the chance to go back to Berk. But I wasn't exactly in a good mood I actually felt sorry for Loki.

I just humiliated him, beat his son to the brink of death, and left. I could have at least apologized for being rude to him earlier.

There was nothing I could do about it now. Thor clapped my shoulder. "Fenrir will be fine. I will have our best doctors taking care of him." Thor assured me when I arrived.

I was in Odin's throne room. I should have been happy, but I couldn't get the image of Loki kneeling by his son out if my head.


	24. Just when I think my troubles are over a

Chapter #24: Just when I think my troubles are over, a new one arises.

I looked up at Thor and he smiled. "Oh, cheer up." Thor said. "I have a surprise for you." Thor added. My face lit up with joy and I seemed to forget why I was so depressed.

"Remember that sword, bow, and shield that was given to you?" Thor asked. "Yeah." I replied. "While you were on your tests, I asked Odin to have them remodeled."

I smiled as he tossed me a sheathed sword, quiver of arrows, a new bow, and a polished shield. I inspected the new equipment in awe.

"We decided that diamond wasn't strong enough, so we made a few upgrades." Thor comments.

"Well, it does feel lighter and fits a lot better in my grip" I added. "What can be stronger than diamond?" I asked.

"Its a combination of the scales of a night fury, gronckle iron, and diamond. Odin thought it up." Thor said.

I had made a few practice swings. "The shield and arrow points are made of the same metal." Thor said.

"Wouldn't that make the arrow to heavy, preventing it from going too far?" I asked. "The metal is actually lightweight, so no." Thor replied.

I then heard a Shadow's scream from my mind. Thor and I looked at each other. "How long have I been dead?" I asked. "Two minutes, time is different here on Asgard and the other dimensions."

I nodded my head. "Come on, let me show you what happened since you left Midgard." Thor said as he flicked his hammer, causing a large basin to appear. I looked inside and what I saw shocked me.

Back on Berk.

"Is he...is he...dead?" Hiccup asked his father. "I don't know anyone who could survive a blast like that." Stoick replied solemnly. "Get the others, I need to have a talk to my dragon." Hiccup told his father.

Stoick had stood up and walked down the hill that overlooked the village of Berk. "Toothless!" Hiccup yelled angrily.

Toothless slowly advanced closer to his rider with his head held low. Shadow didn't move, he was frozen in shock.

"What did you do!?" Hiccup demanded although he knew he couldn't understand the response. "I killed, Taj." Toothless said in a low tone.

Shadow slowly was starting get over his trance after hearing those words. Shadow looks over at my body and then at Toothless, then back at my body.

A whimper leaves Shadow's mouth causing Toothless to look over at his older brother.

"You killed him." Shadow said in shock. Shadow started to shiver. His breathing was quick and deep. Shadow did something nobody expected. He roared.

"Noooooooo!" His voice started to crack and even though I wasn't there I could still sense a shift in the atmosphere. I looked over at Thor.

I had a slight suspicion on what was happening. "Can night fury use magic?" I asked. "Yes." Thor said bluntly. Shadow's roar slowly started to change.

I watched in shock as his roar formed a word, not in dragonese, but in English.

The other dragon riders had arrived, jumped off their dragons, and watched with a shocked expression on their faces.

Shadow had just yelled no in English. That shouldn't be possible, but frankly Shadow can use magic, so yeah that just happened.

A large flash of light had emersed Shadow's body. There was a large boom and dirt, dust, and rocks were flown into the air.

When the dust finally cleared. There was a man where Shadow once stood. He looked about twenty-five. He had dark brown skin, black hair, and green eyes.

The man was my dragon, Shadow. He cricked his neck, cracked his knuckles, and stretched out his back.

"Hello Toothless, I suggest you start running because I'm going to kill you, slowly." Shadow said calmly.

His human voice sounds exactly like his mental one that just makes what he said all the more unsettling.

He walked over to my sword and picked it up, and got into an attack stance. "Start running." Shadow demanded. Toothless didn't even think twice.

He pushed past Stormfly and shot down the hill. Shadow whistled a tune as he calmly walked down the hill, in pursuit of Toothless twirling

my sword by his side as he did so.

Back on Asgard.

I looked at Thor, shocked, confused, and wanting to return to Midgard as soon as possible.

"I know you want to leave but you can't, at least not yet. There is one more thing I want to tell you." Thor stated. I nodded my head.

"You asked me to teach you how to fully master your new abilities, that is what I want to do now." A small smile crept its way on my face.

"To master your shifting, you first have to understand its origins." Thor stated. Now I was curious. "Who are my parents, Jackson the quick and Selena the wise, or you and Hel?" I asked.

"Hel and I are your parents, and so are Jackson and Selena." I was confused. "How is that possible, how can someone have two sets of parents?" I asked.

"You were born here in Asgard, and Odin, your mother, and I knew you would have a larger impact on Midgard."

"We asked Odin to use some very advanced magic to change your form." Now I was even more confused.

"Why would you do that, why not put me on Midgard as a night fury?" I asked.

"Hel thought it would be better for you to live your life as a human instead of a dragon." I was still confused.

"If Odin turned me from a dragon to a human, how can I switch between the two forms?" I asked.

"The spell that Odin had cast on you had only changed your appearance, eating habits, and how your instincts affected you." I slowly nodded my head.

I was finally starting to understand but I still had a few more questions. "Why did Shadow save my life when I was younger?" I asked.

"I am not sure, maybe you should ask him before he kills Michael." I shot a look at Thor. "Is that the name you gave to Toothless?" I asked.

"Yes. I also named your dragon Jason before he was known as Shadow. I smiled. Jason and Michael. It fits their personalities.

"Now that you know the origin of your abilities, I think it's time for your training." Thor stated. I nodded my head.


	25. I get private lessons from the gods

Chapter #25: I get private lessons from the gods.

"Concentrate." Thor said. "Think about shifting and nothing else."

I shut my eyelids tighter since they were already closed.

I could feel the change. I could feel each scale form as they covered my body.

I could feel my spine expand as my tail forms. My eyes ached as they began to change as well.

I then felt something that I haven't before. My hands and feet began to change as well. I concentrated harder. My breathing had started to get deeper.

My heart rate had slowed, it go slower and slower and slower still. It finally stopped.

I couldn't feel my arms or legs and I was now scared. My heart beat then restarted.

Moments later I could feel blood course through my veins once more.

Although this blood was different. It was warmer. My heart beat was heavier, faster, better.

My hands and feet finally stopped shifting, so did my wings and eyes. The last scale formed and my breathing stilled.

I stumbled down to all fours and opened my eyes. I was now a night fury I every way, shape, and form. I roared triumphantly.

My wingspan was tripled instead of the original fourteen feet, it was now forty-two feet.

My eyesight was increased dramatically. I can see better, farther, and sharper.

My claws and teeth were sharper than any sword or arrow point ever made. My hands and feet were changed into paws.

I had did it. I successfully changed in a night fury. "Good." Thor said. "Now change back to complete your training." Thor stated.

I nodded my head. "Its just the same thing I just learned, only in reverse." I told myself. I took a deep breath and began to shift back into a human.

As I shifted back into my human body, I could feel my bones move and shift. I could feel my heart stop and restart.

I could feel my scales sink down into the softer skin underneath, revealing my skin. I could feel my eyes shift and change.

I could feel everything change, but the weird part of it all is that it wasn't painful. I'm not sure how to explain how it felt. It just felt normal.

"Good, you're a fast learner." Thor said. "Now shift into a mix between human and dragon." Thor stated.

I did as I was told. Thor nodded his approval. I then shifted back into my human appearance. Thor smiled.

"You have learned fast." Thor commented. "Your new weapons are in Jason's saddle bags." Thor told me.

When Shadow had turned himself human, his saddlebag had appeared by his side.

His false tail had turned into a makeshift foot similar to Hiccup's. "I think you should return to Midgard." Thor suggested. "Please?" I asked.

"Wait." I heard a voice yell. Thor and I turned our heads towards the voice. It was Odin.

"Since you know that you are a night fury, I cannot withhold this information from you any longer, before you go, there are a few things that you must learn." Odin stated.


	26. The tour, The argument, and a shocking r

Hey. It's Tojster1 here and before you begin to post rage comments on how I'm super late posting this chapter, let me just say this: I am working on two or three other fanfics which I will be posting soon. and I have school, so I'm up all night on my laptop typing up three stories at once and doing tons of homework. So please, take advice from The Beatles and just Let It Be. With that said here's the next chapter. Please Review.

Chapter #26: The tour. The argument, and a shocking realization.

Asgard. My POV.

"You have a lot to learn in so little time." Odin says as he walks towards Thor and I. "I'm ready to learn everything you're teaching." I replied. "Good. Your lessons will be taught to you on your tour on the nine worlds." Odin replies as he places a hand on my shoulder and the three of us begin walking to the nearest one of the nine worlds. Vanaheim. The home of the Vanir gods. The masters of Sorcery and Magic.

Meanwhile on Midgard.

Stormfly. POV.

Not a single thing moved. Nor the dragons or the vikings said a thing. Even the grass and shrubbery were in a silent standstill as if they to were mourning the recent death. "Hel shall give mercy to the innocent. Thor bless this poor child." Stoick said after a few moments, breaking the silence and the control it held on the witnesses. A few moments later Stormfly had gotten over her shocked state and fully realized the situation that just occurred right in front of her.

"No. He can't be dead. He can't just leave me like that." Stormfly said in shocked whisper as a tear began to roll down her cheek and she began to shiver. Meatlug had gone to her side and tried her best to give her friend condolences. "Stormfly it's ok he'll be-" The deadly nadder started to get angry and decided she didn't want to hear anymore of this. "No! It's not ok. Taj is dead don't you understand he is NEVER coming back."

Stormfly then had gone down to Taj's body and laid down on her haunches with her head tucked in-between her paws. The grass burned from underneath the deadly nadder as her super heated tears made contact with the Earth. Wrapping one of her wings around Taj's lifeless body she felt her emotions break free and effortlessly began to control her and she was utterly powerless to it's effects.

It was as if all the joy and happiness of her life had been thrown away and forgotten. Only to be replaced by an uncontrollable sadness that tightened her throat and wetted her eyes. She let out an anguished cry and sobbed even harder. "Stormfly, just listen to me. Please?" The female gronkle pleaded. "What!?" Stormfly snapped in reply moments later. "We can still save Shadow and Toothless before it's too late." Meatlug said hopefully.

"I don't care what happens to them up to this point. Toothless killed him in cold blood, and Shadow can't even function properly or keep his sanity without Taj's mental assistance. They are better off dead if you ask me." Stormfly replied bitterly. All of the other dragons were shocked by the response. "Why would you say something like that Stormfly?" Hookfang asked. "Because it's true and you as well as I do that it is!" The nadder argued as she began to cry again. "Just leave me alone." Stormfly said sadly as she curled closer to the broken body.

Astrid. POV.

Astrid had never seen Stormfly act like this and it terrified her. Stormfly was always confident and strong, she always knew what to do in rough situations, and she never acted violently without a reason. She was now doing the exact opposite. She was being ruthless, mean, impulsive, and crying constantly. Astrid didn't know what to do.

She took a few cautious steps towards the nadder only to be blocked off by Hookfang. Whenever she tried to go around him, he would just move with her blocking everyone of her attempts to reach the emotionally unstable dragon. She huffed a sigh and walked towards the rest of the teens. "What do we do?" Hiccup shrugged his shoulders. "For once I'm stumped." The small viking admitted.

"Can you at least get me close to Stormfly?" She asked Hiccup. "I don't know. The dragons seem pretty determined to keep us away from Stormfly and Berk. We just have to wait and see what happens from there." Hiccup stated. "Why do you think she is acting this way over Taj?" Astrid finally asked. "Maybe she likes him?" Ruffnut suggested.

Usually they would just ignore comments like this, but after what they've been through for the past six months they will take any suggestion into consideration. "Well Stormfly and Taj did spend a lot of time together." Snoutloud pointed out. "Yeah. And Taj does seem to be a lot more open to Stormfly about things than he is with anyone else because I don't see him talking to Shadow very often." Astrid added.

"Well, I mean we are all a bit shaken up about Taj, but Stormfly is so...distraught. Just look at how bad it makes her feel." Hiccup commented. That's when it all seemed to click. Every viking had gone silent and exchanged glances as they think over what they just discovered.


	27. I get ambushed, Astrid learns the tru

Chapter #27: I get ambushed, Astrid learns the truth, and Toothless regrets his mistake.

Vanaheim.

It wasn't a pretty sight. To put in simple terms, it looked like a large forest or jungle that's been hit by a storm. Large trees were left unrooted, snapped, or blown into large chunks and spread all along the ground floor. Branches were caught tangled within the exposed roots and added to the large amount of clutter. The air was thick and smelled like rusting iron.

As I quietly followed the thunder god as he cleared a path for me and Odin to use I couldn't help but to think that they were hiding something from me. They didn't tell me where we were going nor did they make any attempt They weren't whispering or anything in a matter of fact they've said nothing at all the entire time we were here which only strengthened my suspensions.

"Krystal." I called mentally. "Yes?" She replied back. "I think Thor and Odin are hiding something from me, do you know what it might be?" I asked. "What do you mean you think they're hiding something?" She asked. "They're acting really suspicious they haven't said a word and they keep looking back at me every few seconds." I replied.

"Wait, so you're not back on Midgard?" She asked moments later. "No, I'm in Vanaheim. Odin and Thor said they would give me a tour of the other realms before I go back to Midgard." I replied. "What!" Krystal yelled making my head hurt. "Geez, not so loud." I said as I rubbed my temples. "They were supposed to teach you what you needed to learn and take you right back to Midgard. You know what I'm telling mother." Krystal informed me.

"What, no don't do that. I don't want them to get yelled at." Krystal scoffed in reply. "Too bad. They lied to Hel, now they're going to have to deal with the consequences." Krystal informed. I sighed as she left my mind. "What wrong?" Odin asked as he noticed me rubbing my temples. "Nothing, just a headache" I replied. "It's just the magic in the atmosphere, it'll wear off." He informed me. We continued to walk in silence.

After about five minutes of following the thunder god, I once again had gotten curious to where we were heading. "So, where ar-." I was silenced by Thor as he stiffed and quickly motioned me to hush. I did as I was told and quickly surveyed the area using my enhanced dragon senses to see what was getting him so worked up.

"What is it? I don-." I was then hushed by Odin as he stiffened as well. I gave them an annoyed look and crossed my arms in anticipation, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did for several seconds. Then seconds turned to half a minute. "There's nothing around here." I said getting angry we were wasting time. I wanted to learn magic, and get back to Midgard as quickly as possible so they wouldn't get into trouble.

That's when I noticed something move nearby. I shifted the shape of my pupils to change the amount of light I let myself see, so I could see better in the dark forest. There was something in the underbrush right behind Thor. I quickly reached for my sword and retracted my scales.

"You didn't tell me Vanaheim was a habitat for wolves." I said as we quickly huddled shoulder to shoulder with our weapons drawn. "It's not." Thor and Odin replied simultaneously. The said creature then let out a growl and pounced, turns out there were more of them. Lots more.

Ten or twelve wolves sprang at us from every direction. Within a few short moments we were quickly surrounded. I heard a joyous laughter from somewhere close by. I automatically recognized the source. Nobody. And I mean nobody has a laugh that obnoxious. "Why are you hear, Loki?" I asked. "You nearly killed my son, so I thought I might as well do the same to you." Loki replied as he stepped from his hiding spot.

Despite our fighting skills and magical weapons we were outmatched and outnumbered. Then one of the wolves pounced towards me. I quickly veered to my left to avoid being bitten. "Hey, Krystal?" I asked worriedly. "Yes?" She responded. I sent her an image of what I was seeing as a response. "Ok. Now I'm definitely getting mom involved, he's tried to kill you once before. This is getting out of hand." Krystal said as she took control of my reflexes.

She outstretched my arm. I caught a wolf by the throat in mid air and threw it towards the rest of it's pack, making them scatter. I smiled at my handiwork. "Hit the floor!" Krystal said quickly. I couldn't react fast enough. Loki's scepter had collided with my chest but thanks to my thick scales it didn't penetrate my skin.

The next thing I know, my head slams into a tree. I hear a deadly crack of wood and the tree shifted inwards. I began to feel lightheaded. My vision crossed and doubled and I kept getting this throbbing feeling in my left eye. My ears rang and the taste of salty metal filled my mouth. Then everything began to slow all at once and the ringing in my ears increased. I saw red and my blood began to boil. All I could hear was a voice in my mind. "Taj, don't move. I will be there soon." Krystal said hurriedly.

I wasn't listening. I was already back on my feet and charging towards Loki. He managed to do something that not many people can accomplish. He got me angry and he's not going to like it. Not. At. All.

Midgard. Astrid POV. Same moment.

Astrid didn't want to believe what she just heard, but she couldn't just shrug it off either. So she got up, and started to walk over the the deadly nadder. Almost immediately the dragons rose to their feet and halted her advances towards Stormfly. "Let me through." Astrid demanded.

Hookfang snorted definitely and rolled his eyes. Astrid may not understand dragonese but it was obvious to her that she was being insulted. Stormfly growled making all of the dragons jump in fear. They slowly but surely began to branch out, forming a path to let her go through.

When she got to the nadder the other dragons closed the gap, but watched over the conversation. "Stormfly can I get a quick glance at Taj?" She asked. Stormfly growled and flicked her tail threatenly. Astrid took a few cautious steps back. Stormfly in return began to calm down.

"Why are you acting like this, it's not like you." Astrid said shocked. Stormfly let out a whimper and tried to avoid her gaze in response. Astrid let out a sigh of defeat. Then Meatlug had entered the conversation. She grunted and stomped her foot. Stormfly whined in response.

Meatlug then walked over to the deadly nadder. Stormfly fired off spikes when she thought Meatlug got too close. Meatlug rolled into a ball to deflect the spikes then let out a growl.

Stormfly growled in response. Meatlug whimpered. Then Stormfly growled back as she wrapped her tail around herself in an attempt to add another layer of protection to the deceased young viking she was trying so hard to protect. Meatlug yelped in shock. Stormfly slowly nodded her head and whined.

Considering she couldn't understand Dragonese Astrid had no way interpreting what the two dragons talked about but she could tell it was serious because Meatlug fainted and the other dragons leaned in closer to the nadder to try and get a look at Taj. She snapped at them and flashed her tail. The other dragons flinched and leaned away from her as she looked down at the young Viking in her wings and purred. "Stormfly. Let me look at Taj." Astrid demanded.

Stormfly growled definitely in response. Astrid marched towards the deadly nadder and demanded that she see the young viking. Stormfly blew a smoke ring in her face and nudged her away from her wings as Astrid coughed. Astrid rubbed her eyes to make them stop stinging and once again marched towards the dragon. "Let. Me. See. Him." Astrid demanded sternly.

Stormfly wouldn't budge. "Stormfly if you don't open your wings I will tie them together and chain you to our house for a month." Astrid threatened. The female nader's eyes widened in fear and she reluctantly did as she was told. Astrid's jaw hung open when realization sunk in. She was both amazed and shocked by what she saw.

Toothless POV.

He thought he would never feel like this. He was trained by the queen herself to be the best and nothing less. Fear was meant for the 'lesser' species to endure and because he was her star pupil and head of the dragon hierarchy, for he was destined to be their fearless leader. Or at least that's what the queen told him.

Toothless rid himself of his thoughts as he flopped to the ground to avoid being decapitated by a flying sword. Shadow was gaining on him, he might have taken his human form but he was still faster and stronger. A transformation spell is only limited to changing the appearance and fortunately for Toothless not much else.

"Aw, I missed again." Shadow was poutingly. "Oh well. There is always next time." He said assuredly as he used a nonverbal retrieval spell to call the sword back to his grip. Toothless jumped back up to his feet and veered to his right as he ran to avoid another one of Shadow's sword throws.

Toothless turned around and shot two fireballs right in front of Shadow's path and continued to run through Berk. As a result of Toothless' aim, Shadow stumbled and fell to the ground. Unfortunately Shadow had managed to get back up and he let out a bone chilling laugh. "Try that again and I'll tear out your spine and beat you with it." Shadow said angrily.

The comment took his attention away from what he was doing causing him to trip over a tree stump and twist his ankle. The youngest of the two dragons fought back a scream when he roughly fell to the ground.

"Before I forget to tell you, make sure to scream nice and loud I want your frail little viking friend to hear this all the way from that hill." Shadow said as he picked up the diamond sword.

Toothless held his breath as he began to slowly scoot away. Toothless hissed silently as pain began to build up in his leg. Shadow raised the sword above his head in a preparation to strike. In desperation Toothless shot one last fireball in an attempt to evade the nonsensical dragon man.

The fireball hit Shadow in the chest causing him to drop the sword as he collided with a building, leaving large cracks in the stone wall. To his surprise Shadow started to groggily get back up. Toothless charged another fireball and fired as his brother gotten to his feet. The power of the collision sent Shadow flying off his feet and back into the building. There was a crack and a loud explosion as the building's foundation gave way causing it to collapse on top of Shadow.

A muffled groan let the hybrids mouth as he slowly transitioned into unconsciousness. Toothless sighed in relief as he crawled to his older brother and slowly dug him out the rubble. He set him on his back, and slowly but surely began to carry him back up to the hill.


	28. Loki gets a beat down, more questions ar

Sorry for the long wait, on top of school and my personal life, and answering requests from other members. (I've decided to start writing for TV Shows and Movies that others authors request I do. Hint the other stories I've published on the site.) I've been pretty busy the past month or so. Without further ado, Here's the next chapter.

Chapter #28: Loki gets a beat down, more questions arise, and Toothless has troubles of his own.

I felt an excruciating pain in my left eye, my blood was boiling, and the familiar tinge of burning flesh filled my nostrils. You know there is this saying that some Vikings see red when they get angry. Turns out, they weren't lying. As I ran toward Loki my surrounds were bathed in the rusty hue. Loki's eyes widened and he immediately began to run back into the forest where he thought the shadows would hide him.

He can't hide from me. I am the master of camouflage. I am night fury. I am- "Taj. Don't. You're already in bad enough shape." Krystal snared me from my personal thoughts. I growled in protest and put up a mental shield to keep her out of my head. I then run after Loki. He was really far ahead of me and my vision in my left eye was completely gone and it the pain that resonated from it was indescribably painful.

But the more pain I felt, the angrier I got. Thanks to my strong legs and long strides I caught up to Loki pretty quickly. I could hear Thor's voice far behind me but I couldn't understand what he was saying. They'd be ignored nevertheless. I wasn't in the mood for a pep talk. I wanted Loki's head off his shoulders and I was going to get it soon enough. Just as I was going to tackle him, Loki tilted his scepter, causing roots to rise from the ground and trip me.

I stumbled for a few seconds before I managed to lean forward, catching my balance. I shook my head a few times to regain my bearings. To start making up lost time I began running on all fours in the direction I last saw him take. It didn't take long to find that Loki's gone. I cursed and stomped the dirt. That's when I noticed the very thing that could help me continue my quest.

His footprints. I bent down and sniffed them, trying to find anything that could help me locate his whereabouts. After a few seconds of concentrating on his scent, I had found where'd he ran off. Once again I began to chase after him. He ran in a zigzag pattern and took sharp turns trying to catch me off guard. I won't let him slip away so easily.

I soon enough I found myself in an area so dense with forestry that even the sun's light was blocked from view. My pupil shrank to the size of a pea and I could see incredibly well in the pitch dark area. I scouted the area, looking for the god of mischief. Then I had found him, he was crouched behind a tree.

I pounced expecting to rip and tear into the soft flesh of the god, only to find that I had gone straight through him. Literally. I collided head first onto the ground. He wasn't there. It was a trick. When I had gotten up, a tree was beginning to fall and nearly crushing me in the process. I rolled out of the way, only to find that the roots from several trees had entangled themselves around my ankles, and were slowly climbing to cover my legs. While branches had grappled my shoulders and arms. A childish yet sinister laugh filled the air.

I felt anger rise up inside of me, and the next thing I knew there was a blaze of light purple light, and a huge ball of fire covered my clenched fists. Black scales slowly began to cover my face, and my teeth slowly formed into the sharp fangs of a night fury. The tree that held me in place was burned to ashes almost immediately from the intense heat. I roared in outrage, and threw balls of white fire that exploded with anything it touched. "I'm going to teach you the true meaning of pain, Loki!" I half growled, half screamed as I frantically searched the fire lit area.

I saw sharp movement in the corner of my right eye. (My vision was completely gone in the other.) I shot a fireball in the direction I saw the movement. Loki yelled in fear as a tree exploded into hundreds of sharp wood chips from behind him. He had to roll to avoid being impaled. "Try that again, and you'll end up like your mother." Loki said bitterly.

That comment took me over the edge, my anger reached its peak, and soon that's all I could feel. Pure, unremitting, fury took control of every aspect of my body. My head swam, a feral growl escaped my throat, and the red in my vision intensified until my vision faded to black. Anger had taken over my body, and words that came out of my mouth that weren't even mine. "I will show you the true meaning of pain, You'll to scream until your throat bleeds and colors dance before your eyes. You will beg for death, but Hel will not answer, I will make sure of it."

The last thing I remember is the sound of ripping flesh, and the sickening crack of a bone being snapped. Loki let out a pained scream that echoed throughout the forest.

Midgard. Astrid's POV.

Taj's entire body was covered in thick black scales. His eyes were scaley narrow slits, but they were rounder around the edges. His hands were covered in scales, and his fingernails were sharp claws. His clothes were almost completely burned, small squares of fabric remained but were completely drenched in blood. Out of curiosity, Astrid reached out and touched the deceased viking, before darting her hand back to her side.

His body was cool to the touch. Stormfly let out a threatening growl. Astrid backed away, not wanting to test the blue dragon's limits. Hookfang used one of his wings to hit Stormfly on the side of the head. She growled at him, and got into a stance to attack the red dragon. Hookfang snorted in challenge to the female dragon. Faster than Astrid could even blink, her dragon tackled Snoutloud's. He kicked her to get her off him, and gotten to his feet. She recovered and fired spikes at him.

Astrid had taken the opportunity to pick up the scale covered viking and carry him over the others. A spike had flown just inches from her windpipe as she stood up with the boy in her arms. She stiffened. Astrid doesn't know a lot about dragons, but she does know that Deadly Nadders do not miss. This was a warning. Stormfly was willing to kill her own rider, just for the sake of the scale covered boy. Astrid turned her head to see that Stormfly getting tackled by Hookfang.

Without thinking. She made another quick attempt for the viking while the blue dragon was distracted, and immediately started running back towards the others. When she set him down, all of the vikings crowded around wanting to see the boy shot by a Night Fury. Stoick and Gobber quickly began to treat the boy's burns. Everyone of them appeared to be as shocked as she was. "This answers everything." Hiccup stated when the teens gathered away from the adults to talk in private.

"Taj is a dragon." Hiccup said bluntly. Nobody could think of anything to say. An idea come to Astrid upon hearing this. "If he is a dragon, then how did Toothless kill him with just one fireball? Shouldn't he be fireproof?" Astrid commented. "Yes." Hiccup answered bluntly. "I'm sure Taj didn't have scales on his body before being hit by Toothless, but now he does." Astrid stated. "What if he isn't dead, what if he's just unconscious?" Fishlegs questioned the group. There was more silence.

"That could be a possibility." The weakest of the group commented. "Anything could be possible." He added. "If Taj is a dragon then how can he speak English, only people can do that." Astrid stated. The group shrugged. "Fine, Taj is a person." Hiccup said. "But, he has scales and he's been talking to the dragons ever since he's arrived here. Which means he's technically a dragon." Fishlegs argued.

"Guys!" Snoutloud yelled. Everyone quieted as a response. "What if he's both?" Snoutloud suggested. Beside the sounds of the fighting dragons and Gobber and Stoick working on Taj's burns, the hill had gone silent. The teens were deep in thought, trying to make sense of the impossible situation that they found themselves in.

Toothless' POV.

Carrying his brother to the others is no easy task for Toothless, especially because one of his legs was sprained. Sure, Shadow was currently a human and humans weigh close to nothing, but that still didn't stop pain from coursing through his body with every little step he took as he slowly limped towards the outskirts of the isle of Berk. Toothless accidentally took a wrong step which caused pain to flare from his leg and that in turn made him fall and take Shadow with him.

Pain exploded from his leg when his unconscious brother had landed on it. He let out a roar of pain so loud that it made his ears ring. A small pool of blood slowly began to form on the stone floor beneath him. Toothless jumped back to his feet, careful not to put any weight on his injured leg, Toothless had limped to his older brother's side and inspected him. There was a large gashes that were cut into his head, each one oozing blood. and lots of it.

Bits and pieces of the weapon that he had used embedded themselves deeply into his brother's chest, back, and arms, causing even more blood to drip to the ground. Toothless looked behind him to notice that a trail of blood followed his every step from the building to where he is now. It was everywhere, and it horrified him. The sight was too much for Toothless to take in all at once.

He began to panic. He just killed Shadow's rider, and now Shadow was dying as well, it was all his fault. Fear and remorse had seeped into his his thoughts as he looked at his unconscious brother. He couldn't think of anything else to do, so he did the first and only thing on his mind. He placed his brother on his back once more and he ran back towards the others. As he ran he could feel the pain in his leg, but he no longer cared. He just wanted his brother to receive the help he desperately needed.

While in his unconscious stupor, Shadow began to mumble something. Toothless was having trouble trying to decipher the whisper. It took him several moments to find out what he was saying. "I will show you the true meaning of pain, You'll to scream until your throat bleeds and colors dance before your eyes. You will beg for death, but Hel will not answer, I will make sure of it." Shadow fell silent once more.

Shadow smiled sadistically "If you don't kill him, I'll fix your eye." Shadow commented. "You can break his neck, shatter his teeth, and crack his ribs, but don't kill him." Shadow still continued to talk in a faint whisper. His voice tainted with outright insanity. Toothless shivered. Even while unconscious Shadow still managed to scare him. "It's just temporary, It won't last much longer. The danger is over." Toothless told himself to keep his hopes up as he ran to the hill that was just beginning to show itself over the horizon.

But as he got closer and closer to the hill he couldn't help but think about how the others would react. Once he actually got up the hill. Would they shun him, chase him out of Berk, or even worse. Kill him? He forced the negative thoughts from his mind as he stopped at the base of the hill and took a deep breath to prepare himself for whatever troubles he might face.


	29. I narrowly avoid being eaten, and Toothl

Sorry, guys. I know I took forever to get this posted, but guess what happens when you combine an old 2005 Macbook, Steam, and 3 hours of nonstop Fallout 4? You get a 95% corrupted hard drive, overheated fans, and burned out motherboard. leaving me to write on my school's computers, and my Nook HD Plus. Which means, until I can either buy a new laptop/computer or fix/replace all of the damaged parts. Updates with all my stories will be painstaking slow. With all that off my chest, enjoy the story. (And my everlasting anguish.)

Chapter #29: I narrowly avoid being eaten, and Toothless gets what he deserves.

I regained consciousness very slowly, my vision blurry and my eyes were sore. Pains rocketed throughout my chest with each breath, my head was pounding and everything hurt. Just like the time I shipwrecked on Berk. But this time, something felt off. I slowly turned my head, causing pain to flare through my spine and neck. My splitting headache had doubled its efforts to bring about my suffering. I let out a cry of pain, sending flares of pain directly to my throat. When my vision corrected itself and the pain in my throat lessoned to a burning sensation, I took in my surroundings.

The first thing I realized was Loki who was laying across me me with an ocean of blood draining from him. He had a two puffy black eyes, a largely swollen face and lips, and from the shape of his jaws, I'd say they were broken and he was missing some teeth. One of his arms and legs lie there snapped in two, while the remaining two appendages had large pockets of muscle hanging freely out of them. Flesh was torn away from his chest and deep claw marks covered his face, neck, and wherever flesh wasn't torn from his chest.

Each time I looked at one of Loki's wounds, the memories of what I did resurfaced through my memory. I held my breath to stop myself from screaming as I forced myself to stand, tears forming in my eyes. Not trusting my neck, I spun around in slow circles to take around me surroundings and look down at myself. I had a large hole in my chest, blood looking out of the wound near my heart. Where Loki had threw his scepter at me. My knees buckled and I nearly lost consciousness from blood loss.

"Easy there, Taj. Try not to move so much." Krystal said in the depths of my mind. I heard a rustling in the bushes from somewhere close by. I jumped to the direction behind me and fell to my knees to wretch when I moved too quickly for my body's liking. The rustling had gotten louder, and this time it was accompanied by a growl. I began to panic. More rustling, and there were more growls that followed. I quickly stood back to my feet, only to be met with vertigo and nearly blinding pain. Falling back on the ground. Something grey and large burst from the bushes, tackled me and immediately started to attack me.

"Taj!" Krystal screamed in my head. "How about giving me a little help." I said spitefully to Krystal as I tried to push what I discovered was a wolf off me, and fend off it's assault. I was feeling disoriented and sick to my stomach, but pushing its snout out of my way took minimal effort. Unfortunately it loved fighting back with it's claws and shaking it's head out of my weakened grasp. It again started to bite and claw. I had to sway and roll my body left and right to be able to block its attacks. Now, I was in full panic mode. I tried to focus on not dying, but that's considerably difficult when you've lost pints of blood faster than you can count to ten, and you're trying not to be eaten alive by something large.

My head was pounding, I couldn't see straight, blood was seeping from my chest, pain on an unmeasurable value coursed through me, and I was struggling to stay conscious. "Krystal. Get here now!" I screamed in my head as exhaustly managed to punch it in the face. "I'm trying. I can only move so fast." As she was talking, I was rolling from left to right, trying to stop what I realized was a wolf from killing me. "Just break his neck and call it a day." Krystal suggested. "Easier said than done." I retorted when I actually managed to hit the thing in the jaw when I swung my arms to shift my body to the left. "How close are you?"

"If we can get past Thor, and Odin without being seen, very. If not, give us about 2 minutes."

"Why does it matter if they see you?" I asked as I made a few more attempts to dissuade my attacker. "They're only going to make things worse. All they've done is give you terribly made weapons, disregard what we've told them to do to keep you safe, and get you in danger. They're selfish and only care about what benefits them, not about what's important." Krystal commented bitterly.

Her words rang with a truth that I didn't realize until now. I quickly put whatever feelings I had aside and quickly threw a punch as the wolf had gone to attack me when he realized that I was distracted. The blow connected with his muzzle, emitting a loud crack when my knuckle got itself acquainted with canine anatomy. The punch was strong enough to cause him to sneeze a small puddle of blood and stumble off me until he fell unconscious. Just then, Krystal burst through the trees and collected me in her claws without skipping a beat, we were in the air. Flying off to who knows where.

A small nudge jolted in my skull. "If you die. At least you'll be with me." Krystal said with an innocent sounding voice voicing around my skull. "Although that would be nice, I have a deadly nadder I promised to court." I replied with exhaustion beginning to trudge its way into my head and mental voice. "You...have a mate, and didn't tell me?" Krystal asked, somewhat shocked by the news. "By human standards and technicalities, the answer is yes. By dragon law? No, but we will be if I survive, and I barely even know you. I didn't think you'd be interested in my life's story." I replied mentally as I yawned Krystal flinched upon hearing those words.

"Is there something I don't know about that I should?" I asked as I struggled to stay awake as more and more blood began to seep from my body. I could feel the debate that Krystal was having in her head. Although, I didn't know the details of the varying opinions that she seemed to be quite equally balanced on whether or not I should be given the information. She looked down to face me as I began to nod off. That moment, she pulled into a dive and immediately curved upwards into the sky. Jolting me awake from the sudden movement. "I wasn't kidding around. Don't you even think about dying. Not that you now have a mate to look forward to." She demanded. I replied with a nod.

"But to answer your question, yes. There was a contract drawn up by Odin, soon after you were born. The details of it, I cannot discuss. Not without your father's consent." That sent question after question racing through my head. "You're not making any sense. My dad was killed by a disease, and even if it is by technicalities, you're not too willing to talk to Thor at the moment either." I responded. There was a moment of silence as Krystal fought with her thoughts, once more. She sighed. "That's all I can say, I can't relinquish any more information. It's part of the contract. I want to tell you. I really do, but I can't. I'm sorry." She replied. I slowly nodded.

Beginning to slowly fall into sleep's welcoming embrace, Krystal opened her claws, letting me fall onto the unforgiving world below. In other words, the heart attack that she nearly gave me did wonders to my nerves, wounds, and overall mood. Especially when she caught me and ascended into the air when I was mere inches from death. "How's that for a morning call?" Krystal asked smiling. "I hate you." I commend bluntly. "You are a viking. It's your job." She replied as if it were obvious. I rolled my eyes, and from Krystal's game she decided to play with me, and the excruciating pain from my wounds. I suffered in silence, while we travelled to where Krystal only knew where.

Midgard. Hiccup's POV.

"So, let me get this straight. Taj was shot by Toothless and we thought it killed him but when Astrid ran over to grab him, he was covered in night fury scales which are fireproof and means he could actually have a chance of surviving something like that." Hiccup stated. The others nodded in agreement. "And. When Toothless shot Taj, Shadow was driven completely insane, turned into a human being, and is now on his way to kill Toothless with Taj's sword." Fishlegs added. There was a collective nod from the dragon riders.

"Let's not forget that Stormfly has a crush on Taj." Ruffnut stated. "And that Taj probably felt the same way." Ruffnut interjected. "How about we change the subject?" Astrid commented with a threat leaning on the edge of her words. "What do we do now?" Fishlegs asked after an uncomfortable pause. Hiccup shrugged. "I guess we just have to wait and see, Gothi, and the others are taking care of Taj, and there's no telling what Shadow might do if he caught us." Hiccup commented. "Stormfly may not be much help, considering her emotional troubles but what about the the other dragons?" Astrid commented bringing back the comment made earlier by the twins.

"Too risky, if Shadow can turn human, he might be able to turn back into a dragon as well. He could come after us, and without help from Toothless things could go horribly wrong, very quickly." Hiccup replied. "Couldn't we just sneak up on Shadow and have one of the dragons knock him out, and bring them here?" Snoutloud suggested. "You know what, that could actually work." Hiccup said. Just then there was a growl from Stormfly, as she ran to the top of the hill and lunged. Stoick, Gobber, and the others all jumped to the side to avoid being killed as Stormfly glided down the hill at blazing speeds.

Hiccup and the others all exchanged glances and then ran to go check on the older vikings while Astrid ran to check on Stormfly. "Are you guys okay?" Fishlegs asked. Gobber nodded in response. "Um, guys. I think you should come to see this." Astrid called out in the distance. Toothless was fighting with Stormfly with what looked to be like a twisted ankle. A badly beaten, and unconscious Shadow laid in a pile of burned grass with blood pouring from massive wounds that covered his body.

Snoutloud and Astrid had quickly ran over to him and rushed over to Gothi to get the dragon man medical attention. A concerned and worried Fishlegs had followed them to their destination. The twins at near the back grinning from ear to ear as they watched to two dragons violent fought each other. Ignoring the twins, Hiccup ran over to the quarreling dragons and stepped in between them to try and stop the violence, but by then Stormfly had tackled Toothless and set her jaws onto his throat. "Stormfly, let him go." Hiccup said to the blue dragon. She growled but didn't release him. "Drop him. Now." Hiccup said sternly as he stabbed a finger at the ground. She smirked as she took to the air, and dropped him from several hundred feet.

The dragon made several failed attempts to catch himself in midair before he fell to the ground with a thud, a loud snap, a cloud of dust and a roar of pain so loud it vibrated in Hiccup's skull. In anger Toothless shot 3 fireballs at the blue dragon on her way down to Earth, each ball of hot plasma hit it's mark. Two hit her in the wings as she descended, and a third hit in the face. She haphazardly landed on the ground, tripping overself when she did so. Hiccup saw something that looked suspiciously like a smirk on Toothless' face. Can night fury smirk? Hiccup thought to himself. He stored the question to the back of his thoughts as he ran to check on the black dragon.

As he kneeled down to check on his dragon, he found himself being tackled by Hookfang and being taken several feet into the air. Just then Stormfly had jumped onto Toothless and mercilessly started clawing and tearing away at his chest and face. Hiccup watched in horror as his friend was being beaten to a pulp. He shot 2 more fireballs, causing Stormfly to stumble and he tried to quickly crawl away from his assailant using his wings his uninjured legs. It was safe to say that he couldn't get very far, in a short amount of time.

When Stormfly got her bearings together she roared in outrage and pounced on the night fury again and continued her beating. This time Barf and Belch had collaborated in freeing Toothless from Stormfly and holding the blue nadder down long enough for Toothless to crawl a considerable distance away. She struggled to free herself, clawing, biting, and tail whipping at the two heads and slowly started to work her way towards Toothless as she fought the two dragons off her. A look of pure fury and determination glistened in her eyes so fierce that it made Hiccup shiver. While airborne he saw the other riders run towards the quarrelling dragons, trying to stop the violence.

Stormfly was slowly inching closer to Toothless as Barf and Belch had dragged her a few feet back. Again, she fought to get a few inches closer than she did before. In fear Toothless weakly charged another fireball, struggling to stay conscious as blood flowed from his broken face and leg. Just as she neared the black dragon for a final assault, she was tackled again by Meatlug, and Barf and belch, and successfully was constrained from hurting the large reptile. After several minutes of struggling, Stormfly finally had given in to the overwhelming power of her oppressive peacekeepers.

Once Stormfly was subdued, Hookfang had set Hiccup back on the ground and Hiccup once again had bounded towards his night fury. Hookfang had fallen into step beside Hiccup as he walked towards the injured dragon, but he didn't stop his advances. With just one look, he could already tell that the leg was broken. The bones in his leg were protruding outward, and a large pool of hot, boiling blood burned away at the grass, and steam rolling off the destroyed grass, immediately killing off the surrounding plant life.

Hiccup knew he didn't want to get more than a few feet from the wounded dragon, let alone touch him. He's never seen it personally, but he's heard stories of vikings being burned alive from the scorching heat of dragon blood. When he looked over at Toothless and met his gaze, the black dragon gave him a pained look. He then turned and looked to Stormfly, her eyes were fixed on Toothless and they gleamed with the intent to murder the wounded reptile.

Should I even help Toothless, he just killed someone for Thor's sake. Hiccup thought. But on the other hand, he just did get beaten to a pulp by an angry female dragon. Is that a deemable punishment for a crime so severe? Should he get worse? The teens stared at him, he felt them glaring at him, waiting patiently as thought over the choices in his head and the consequences each choice could bring. He has a big decision to make in very little time. "What should be done?" Hiccup asked as he tore his eyes away from the angered blue dragon. They purged their lips, not wanting to say or do anything without thinking it over as they looked back in forth between Stormfly, Toothless, and himself.

"I say we help him. He is your dragon after all." Astrid spoke up after a long period of silence. Snoutloud nodded in agreement. "Even though they don't get along very well, Taj still would have helped him." Hiccup turned his gaze towards the others. Fishlegs nodded, and the twins were too busy punching each other to pay any attention. "Guess that settles it then." During all of this, Hookfang was sitting on his haunches waiting patiently for a decision to be made. Hiccup turned to the red dragon and nodded. "See what you can do. I don't want him dead, but I really don't want him feeling to good either." Hiccup stated.

Hookfang had gone over to the black dragon, put him on his back, and walked over to where Gothi and Gobber were collaborating their skills to treat both Shadow and Taj's wounds. As the black dragon locked eyes with him, Hiccup saw a look on Toothless' face he hasn't recognized. He's never made an facial expression like that on a dragon before, let alone Toothless, and he wasn't sure on what it was supposed to convey. He could tell by the looks on the other's faces that they saw it too. "Hiccup?" Astrid started to get his attention. "Yes?" He replied. "I think that was fear."

"No that wasn't fear, he's been scared before. That….was pure terror." As he said those words, realization hit him like a punch to the face. Without another word, he ran to go see his dragon.


	30. Long talks and Broken minds

**After a comment made on my story by 2 users on the same topic, I will be making changes to the earlier chapters of my story to appease to the users and improve the story. I will also make more grammatical and spelling errors to improve readability. I oblige all who are willing to point out all my mistakes in the comments or PM them to me. Whether it is a simple spelling mistake or character personality flaw, every comment helps. (I wouldn't be able to find them all myself.)**

**I will also do everything in my power to start posting on a regular basis. Please enjoy the (long-awaited) 30th chapter.**

**P.S. All of the telepathic conversations and personal thoughts in the story will be italicized when the editing is completed, please comment to tell me if it shows up correctly.**

**Thanks to all who have stuck with me since the beginning, and for the new readers thank you for deciding to take a read. There's more to come. **

**-Tojster1.**

Chapter #30: Long talks and Broken minds.

Imagine waking up confused. You don't know where you are, how long you've been there, or how you even got there. It feels as if your bones took a bath in acid, and your head feels as if it's been torn in half. Got it in your mind? Good, because I won't say it again.

Now for step 2. You're lying on a grassy floor in the middle of a clearing. In the distance there is a thicket of trees, a majority of them are either burned or snapped in sections as if someone or something has recently crashed through them. Take a second to reread what you've just been told. Now that you have the situation in your head, imagine you have three women sitting in a circle near where you're laying.

Two of them are arguing with each other at an extremely high volume as they gestured furiously and pointed in your direction. The third seems annoyed at the two women's unrestrained bickering. Your previously established headache is somehow getting more painful by the minute, and to make matters worse you realize that two women are arguing over you.

Finally, consider yourself lucky that you aren't the one that has to suffer.

"What's going on here?" I groaned as I tried to sit up and I rubbed my temples.

Upon hearing my voice, Krystal had lunged. She was at my side faster than my thumping skull could process. She began to nudge, sniff and poke my body with her snout, checking for injury.

Hel and the unknown woman had stopped bickering and turned to look at their fleeting partner and quickly discovered that I was indeed conscious. They ceased their bickering as they ran over to my side, and then fought over who gets a better angle to stare at me from.

"What's going on and why do I hurt so much?" I asked simply because I didn't get an answer the first time.

She decided to answer the questions in the order she thought was most important. "First off, most of your ribs were broken. You fell unconscious in mid flight and I dove after you. We crash landed in the trees. There was that, and Loki nearly punctured your eye. After hearing our rather painful entry, Freya," She motioned towards the unknown woman. "had come to see what the cause of the noise and fixed up your ribs with magic, unfortunately, she can't do much about your eye but, at least the pain will subside a little bit faster."

I nodded.

"As to explain the arguing, Hel and Freya saw each other and immediately started up their usual debate, neither of these two are willing to put an end to the dispute." Krystal clarified.

"Usual argument?" I asked. In response, Krystal gave me a disappointed look.

"You mean to tell me, you don't know?"

"Krystal, you're being very vague." I said.

"Of course he doesn't know. Hel has been treating him like all the others that come her way, the second she laid her disgusting little eyes on him. She doesn't care whether you're her family, a living soul, a dead one, or an animal. She'll do what Hel does best, manipulate and lie to get what she wants. In this case, she wants you, and the protection and power you can offer her. But, when she feels as if she doesn't need you anymore, she'll just dispose of you like the trash she thinks you are." Freya quipped.

"That's not true! Did I show you any kind of disrespect when you shown up in Helheim?"

"Actually, no. You didn't. In a matter of fact, it was Loki who represented those qualities." I replied.

I slowly turned my attention to Freya. "She's been nothing but nice to me, since the day I met her. For the record, she never asked me to do anything for her. I've actually been rescuing her from Loki's taunts. Please don't go throwing around accusations like that against my mother, not only in front of me, but especially not in front of her too."

"I am one of the original Vanir goddesses that was traded off after the Aesir and Vanir war, and a professional practitioner of magic. I can safely say that I'm older than most gods in Asgard and I've known them for a very long time. I can honestly tell you that Hel does indeed act that way. Maybe not near you, or to you, but she does. I'm sorry to have been so rude about it, but I just stand her manipulating and lying to everyone she comes in contact with."

Hel opened her mouth to object, but was met with a glare from Krystal, Hel tightened the seal on her lips. "Hel does have that mouth of hers. Whether she wants something from human vikings or the other gods, she can always find a way to get it. Whether she has to lie, blackmail, bargain, or manipulate, she'll eventually get her hands on it."

"Freya. I'm sorry for yelling at you, but you could have been nicer." She nodded.

"Now, the big question still is left unanswered. Who is the mother of my race, even if I am or am not a complete night fury." I asked.

Krystal had quickly interjected before either goddess could speak. "No one knows for sure who the actual mother of the race is. Some Night fury say it's Hel and others say it's Freya. There's enough evidence to make either argument. Personally, I could care less about the whole arguement. As long as they both agree to give me a place to stay when I need it, I'll treat them both the same."

I nodded as an idea came to my head when Krystal finished her response.

"Hel. You've been respectful, nice, and very kind since you've met me. Keep that up and drop the manipulating act and I just might continue to to call you mother." I turned my attention to the other goddess.

"Freya. You've been eye-opening, insightful, and down to Earth truthful, even if it was rude at first. If you can be nicer to Hel, I'll definitely start planning visits. Do the both of you accept my terms?"

As I spoke each goddess perked up when they heard their name leave my mouth. Hel's eyes seemed to find a sudden interest to something on the ground when she heard the comments I made to her. Sure enough, two heads nodded in agreement.

"You've been spending time with Loki's children, haven't you?" Freya asked blankly.

"As a Viking chief, I must be good at settling disputes in a village. There is little difference in this situation. But, for the record, I've spent some time in Helheim as part of a challenge put forth by the gods. And, in a challenge put forth by Loki, I shot Fenrir with enough force to desolate a mountain. I nearly killed him in the process and I deeply regret doing so and hope he makes a full and speedy recovery."

There was a pause as what I said sank in. "If that is what you call spending time with Loki's children, then I certainly have, but I didn't particularly enjoy myself while in their company."

Before a response could be made to the news, a flash of lightning followed a crack of thunder had found its way in between the four of us. Thor and Odin had arrived to the scene.

"Oh, look there's Taj. I told you bed be here." was the first thing said by Odin. The atmosphere changed almost immediately upon their arrival. Fortunately, or for the lack thereof, depending on what side you take. Thor and Odin had their backs turned to the two goddesses, and therefore failed to notice them.

Neither goddess said a word, instead, they waited, letting their anger boil and simmer inside them. Hel tapped her foot on the ground as she patiently waited for the gods to notice. Freya stood there with her arms folded, staring a hole in the back of the head of the two gods, prompting them to do so.

Immediately after Odin's comment, they looked around, instantly noticing something was off. When they felt someone staring them down, the two gods stiffened. Slowly, they made a 180 turn and came face to face with 2 seething goddesses.

Almost instantly Thor's eyes widened in fear. "Huney. I can explain." Thor stammered to them both in a fruitless attempt to pacify them.

Before I could see what happened next, Krystal grabbed me and took to the skies. The angered screams of the goddesses in the distance could be heard from 100 miles away. I knew this because we were about that far, and we could still hear them screaming at the hopeless men.

"Where are we going?" I yelled when we hit an airstream.

"We'll be in Asgard within the hour. If Freya couldn't fix your eye, hopefully the medical valkyries can. You also need to find a way back to Midgard considering you passed all of your challenges."

I couldn't agree more. Thinking about all of this godly family business was starting to confuse and aggravate me. Just then, I remembered a short conversation I had with Thor about this very topic.

"_Krystal? I'm not sure if you know or not, but I was just curious. Thor told me that two humans that I've grown up with, named, Jackson and Selena were my parents. Does that mean they gave birth to a dragon?"_ I asked telepathically.

Almost instantly, Krystal put up a mental barrier and forced me out of her head. For several long moments, Krystal did not respond. That's not a good sign.

"Remember when you told me Thor and Odin were hiding something?!" Krystal said loudly using her voice so that I still couldn't read her thoughts.

"Yeah!" I yelled back.

"You aren't that far from the truth. Although Jackson and Selena are your parents, but only by a technicality, they did not conceive a hatchling. You got that bit right."

"So that means Thor and one of the two death goddesses are my parents then?"

Krystal huffed a sigh. "Thor and one of the two goddesses are the parents of the race. They only had the first two night fury, but all of the rest of us were hatched from the first borns and their children."

"So… what does that mean about my parents?"

"I can't say anything else on the matter. I'm not allowed. You'll have to figure it out yourself."

"What do you mean you aren't allowed?"

She answered with her silence. We flew to Asgard as I began the process all of the information.

Midgard. Hiccup's POV.

Hiccup came to a halt when he was face to face with his father, Stoick the vast. He had quickly stepped in front of Hiccup's way, blocking him a view of Gothi's three patients. "No. Hiccup. Don't come any closer. I don't want you to get hurt." He said.

"Dad. Two out of the three are out of conscious thought and I trust that Toothless would never hurt me in any situation no matter how serious it is. We saved each other's lives more times than I could count." Hiccup argued.

Stoick the Vast had thought over his son's argument in his head for several moments debating the pros and cons. Hiccup waited cautiously for for his father's verdict, silently praying for his answer to be in good favor.

After what seemed like years, Stoick had stepped to the side and motioned towards the group of older vikings. Hiccup wasted no time running towards the battered Night Fury, then something caught his attention. He stopped halfway, and stared at a body with the shape of a person, but this person was covered in scales. Night Fury scales.

While Gobber finished his work with Shadow, and got prepared to fix up Toothless, Gothi worked tirelessly on Taj's body. Rags were wrapped tightly around several parts of his body in a hurried attempt to stop the bleeding of several wounds that seemed to still be active under the scales. His body was stiff and motionless. It felt as if a stone was lodged in his throat.

To make him feel even worse, he couldn't find himself to look away. He was left brain-locked by the horror he was seeing.

"Gothi said that the coma he's in is the only thing keeping alive. It slowed his heart rate and breathing down to a snail's pace in an attempt to save his life." The voice was his father's. "It's a miracle that a fireball that powerful didn't kill him instantly."

At those words, Hiccup tore his glance away from the dying boy, only to be met with the perpetrator of the horrendous crime, Toothless the Nightfury. Hiccup had mixed feelings about the Night Fury. Toothless was his first and closest friend. He couldn't find himself to come to grips with the fact that Toothless had almost killed someone.

He's known Toothless for years, he would never kill a living soul in cold blooded anger. He knew that there had to be a logical explanation for what he did. He just had to figure out what. The dragon stared at him with guilt and sorrow written all over his face. Hiccup looked into the dragons reptilian eyes and once again saw an emotion he never recognized on Toothless' face. It took him a moment for his brain to catch up with what he was seeing.

At first it was confusion, then slowly it transitioned into terror, followed by panic, next came sorrow, before finally a look of remorse etched into his features. Toothless looked up to face Hiccup and let out a depressed sound. Before he could even begin think about what all of that meant, Hiccup heard the barely audible sound of laughter. It had reached Hiccup's ears, sending a chill colder than the lands of Jotunheim down Hiccup's spine.

It took him a long moment to find just where it originated from. The realization of his plight had sank faster than the weighted stone that formed in Hiccups throat. The gravity of the situation punched Hiccup with enough force to send the stone sinking to the oceanic depths that was Hiccup's stomach. The laugh that was barely audible at first had undoubtedly crescendoed into a fit of hysterics that would make the uncanny and uproarious cachinnation of Dagur seem mundane and ordinary.

It was that moment, Shadow's body jerked as if the world needed evidence of his unhinged state. He slowly stood to his feet, and charged towards Hiccup with a look of deep loathing and an overwhelming rush of madness in his eyes. The moment after, Hiccup realized that Toothless not only put Taj into a comatose, but also drove Shadow to insanity. Now, Shadow was coming after him as well. Stoick and Gobber ran to tackle the dragon turned man who looked to be in his early 20's. Shadow easily foiled both of their attempts to subdue him.

When he was within a few feet of Hiccup, he reared back his leg in mid stride and kicked Toothless in the head. Hiccup nearly lost his breakfast. The sound of a splitting watermelon filled the air as Toothless' skull shattered into pieces. The aforementioned dragon let out a roar so loud, it made his ears ring and his head spin. Shadow sneered before pivoting on his left heel and dashing off. He crouched next to the dying boy. No other sudden movements followed.

About a minute later, he stood back up before sitting cross-legged. Everyone present seemed to exhale a breath that they seemed to be holding. "I thought he died, don't prove me right or you'll be next." Shadow snapped at Gothi, pulling her out of her shock. She resumed her previous task without a comment to the unleveled person.

Hiccup slowly turned his attention back to his dragon, tears welling up in his eyes at the sight of his friend. Gobber quickly ran to the dragon's side, inspected the damage and sighed. "I can fix 'im up, but it'll take my tools and a lot of patience on your part." He told Hiccup. The said boy nodded.

"Stoick, help me lift him. We're heading to meh' house."

"Of course, Gobber." Hiccup's dad replied. Right before the two were going to lift him, Hookfang gingerly had Toothless on his back. With a little help form Gobber and Stoick they positioned Toothless in a way to keep his neck level with the rest of his body. With the hardest part of the job done, they slowly made their way past the dragons that stepped to the side to let their fellow dragon and two vikings through the small barrier they had made. Hiccup watched as the three of them walked down the hill, leading towards Berk.

Hiccup ran after them. "No. Hiccup. Stay with the others, you don't want to see what Gobber has to do to Toothless. Trust me." Hiccup stopped in mid stride and somberly walked back towards the group of teens. None of them said a word, but their looks of sympathy were acknowledged.


End file.
